It's Always Been You
by princess-rko
Summary: He was always Vince's favorite so it should have been no surprise when he was Stephanie's favorite too. From the time at the barbecue to making up false rumors to the strip club avoidance to right here and right now, it's always been you. (Or the one where the Undertaker falls for the Billion Dollar Princess)
1. Hey Princess

**Description:** He was always Vince's favorite so it should have been no surprise when he was Stephanie's favorite too. From the time at the barbecue to making up false rumors to the strip club avoidance to right here and right now, it's always been you. (Or the one where the Undertaker falls for the Billion Dollar Princess)

 **Note:** Hi there! Before reading this fic I should note that I don't own the WWE or any trademarks of it (although, how stellar would that be if I did?). I try to be relatively accurate for the actual dates of things in this fic because my plan is to write about an affair between Undertaker and Stephanie from 1993 through present day so a lot of the happenings and dates will be accurate and in line with real life dates (i.e. dates of shows, birthdays, etc.) But, I do intend to omit certain things and pretend they never existed while including others. For example, we're gonna pretend that the Undertaker has never been married and has no kids at the start of this fic. Okie dokie? Awesome. I hope you enjoy!

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Stephanie McMahon had a crush on Mark Calaway for as long as she could remember. When he father first hired the 6'10" giant back in November of 1990. She loved pretty much everything about the man from his calm demeanor to the way he just commanded respect without ever asking for it. She was only 14 at the time and had childish crush on the man who made her blush like a schoolgirl every time he so much as looked in her direction for more than a second and if he smiled at her, forget it. But she knew he didn't see her in the same light she saw him. He saw her as the boss's kid who showed up at the occasional show or pay-per-view taping, giddy with excitement but shy at the same time. She was a child in his eyes, no doubt.

It would take her almost two years of awkward eye contact, smiles followed by blushing on her part, and the occasional anxiety-inducing "Hi, Mark" before she would work up the courage to say more. It was December of 1992 and she was 16 when he said hi to her as he passed by on his way up to the curtain, almost ready to head out to the ring. He froze and Stephanie noticed his disconcerted expression, a rare one from the man she had been sneaking glances at for years.

"Is something wrong?" she choked out.

"Shit" he cursed under his breath then looked at the younger woman "I forgot my gloves in the locker room."

"I'll go get them!" Stephanie offered "Which bag is yours?"

"It's in the far right corner, it's black and should have a grey coat and beanie on top of it."

"Okay, be right back!"

She bounded for the locker room, being careful to knock to ensure she didn't walk in on someone changing, she quickly found his bag and rummaged through it to find his gloves. Amongst other things in his bag she found a bottle of Jack Daniels, a bandana, a newspaper, and condoms. She felt a small knot tie up in her stomach when she saw the condoms but she grabbed the gloves and tried not tot think about it.

When she returned moments later with his gloves he slid them on quickly, just as his music began to play.

"Thanks, Steph" Mark smiled at the girl before heading through the curtain with Paul Bearer.

She knew that this had to stop. The condoms served as some sort of sick reminder that Mark was much older than her and he was living his own life. Also, it provided a wake up call to the young woman that Mark would probably never want to be with her. This harsh dose of reality hurt but also this weird crush she had on Mark wasn't over the top, or obsessive, or anything of the sort. But, it had gone on for too long and she had began to idealize him when clearly he wasn't perfect and clearly he was getting around with women. As if he would ever be interested in her. It was with that that she decided to try to move past this silly crush and maybe find a guy her own age to distract her as she tried to take less notice of the older man.

Months went by and oddly enough, the more she told herself that Mark was just a regular guy and that there wasn't anything special about him, the easier it became to talk to him and they eventually developed a friendship of sorts. At first it was quick conversations, mostly just small talk, but as 1993 progressed their conversations and their friendship deepened. They talked about movies, music, politics, the wrestling business, and Stephanie's personal life (as Mark never brought his up). Mark was always surprised by how much Stephanie knew and Stephanie was always surprised by how easy it seemed to speak to the man now.

Mark was really the only guy backstage to engage in actual conversation with the girl. Everyone else either didn't care, was afraid of saying anything more than a polite "Hello" to the boss's daughter, or just didn't have the time. Mark tried to make time, though. Not to get ahead in the company or get some sort of "in" because he made friends with the boss's daughter, but because at first she looked so lonely backstage and he hated seeing that, then after months of speaking to her it just became something he wanted to do not because she looked lonely but because he really liked their talks. Granted, their conversations were never especially long. 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Whenever they ran into each other backstage they'd chat and then he'd be off with the boys elsewhere. But Stephanie was grateful for the time and Mark was always happy to take a few moments to talk to a girl who by spring time, he considered somewhat of a friend. If adults were allowed to have underage friends, an idea he would spend the following year and a half debating until she turned 18.

Things were made easier in spring of 1993 when Stephanie got a boyfriend and she felt her crush on Mark begin to fade as she fell for this new guy. That was about the time when she realized that maybe what she felt for Mark was just a childish crush and had no merit.

One Monday night in summer, Stephanie was sat on a chair backstage, snacking while reading when Mark sat down beside her.

"You know, I heard you got yourself a boyfriend" he drawled.

"You did? From who?" Stephanie looked up, surprised that Mark would know as she had made a genuine effort to not tell him. Why? That's something she wouldn't realize until years later when she considered that maybe she still felt something for her first big crush at that time and was still trying to leave that door open, even if Mark had no idea there was even a door there to begin with.

"Your father" Mark smirked "I found out because he told me to keep an eye on you and let him know if you tell me anything personal about you two."

Stephanie snorted "He's ridiculous!"

"That's what I thought, but I told him that I would" Mark chuckled softly "So if you two end up gettin' a little wild one night, do me a favor and don't tell me would ya? I don't wanna be in that kinda position."

"Why would I tell you regardless of your promise to my dad?"

"I dunno, seems like we're kinda friends and you tell me about pretty much anything else that happens in your life." Mark paused "Although, ya didn't tell me you had a boyfriend so I suppose you might be good at keeping secrets. Huh, princess?"

Stephanie blushed. That was the first time he called her princess and it certainly wouldn't be the last. She didn't care if he meant it in a joking, teasing manner, it still effected her. "I didn't tell you because we just started dating like a month ago and I didn't want to bore you with tales of rubbing noses and kissing in a high school hallway."

Mark stood up and smirked "Don't worry, I like hearin' about you gettin' buzzed at a party then falling into a pond on your walk back home. It's a nice change of pace from hearing stories about how fucked up someone got and how many hookers they slept with."

"I'm glad I'm a nice escape for you" Stephanie chided.

"You're not an escape. I'd call you my friend, Steph. I talk to you more than half the guys back in that locker room." Mark moved to walk away but stopped and lowered his voice "And Steph? If that boy you're with ever hurts you or tries to make a move on you when you don't wanna, I will beat the living hell out of that son of a bitch."

With that, he walked away and Stephanie was left in a pile of mush. She was still blushing after hearing him call her princess. Just that small exchange and hearing Mark threaten to hurt her boyfriend if he ever hurt her, left her feeling so confused. She tried to keep telling herself that Mark probably considered himself to be like an older brother to her, an actually protective one unlike Shane. But, even as she tried to convince herself of this and convince herself that she was crazy and his threat was done out of sibling-like care, the way he drawled out princess stuck with her and shook her up all over again.

NC

The rest of the summer passed by easily and from the outside looking in, it looked as if Stephanie had a great summer. When in all actuality, she had the most internally tumultuous summer of her life. Mark continued to call her princess as a nickname, a hushed one at that. It was certainly not a nickname he would yell across a room to get her attention, but one that he used to tease her, especially when she acted like a spoiled brat. He kept her in check but always smirked afterwards, letting her know that yes, she was acting like a little brat, but that it didn't actually bother him.

She had began to open up more to him and her true personality started to shine through. She was no longer the Stephanie McMahon who carefully chose her words and was always cheerful. She began to show him more emotion and he ate it up. He loved that she was finally acting like a real person instead of a controlled robotic child. When she would rant to him he would sit and listen quietly, letting her tire herself out sometimes and other times wait until she got mad that he wasn't mad like she was, or at least wasn't reacting, before telling her to relax. She had even walked away from conversations when he didn't say what she wished he would but that was half the fun and helpful for her. She would take a few minutes, realize what a brat she was being, and go back and apologize. He would always accept her apology with no resentment as he loved how passionate she got about the things that bothered her.

It was over that summer that Stephanie felt like they were really friends which only posed more internal conflict for the girl. She had spent many nights debating if Mark was flirting with her or if he really just liked their friendship and she was reading way too much into his teasing. She thought about this with knowledge that he was probably getting home from a strip club, drunk, and falling into his hotel room bed either alone or with the flavor of the month who would be gone as she got too clingy.

Mark had started telling her brief mentions of his own personal life. Things like how he thought all the women he was with got too clingy and wanted too much too soon. That, or they were just bimbos he wanted to fuck for awhile before moving onto the next one. He also kept a few casual fuck buddies in various cities so when he travelled there he would call him up and they'd meet him, fuck, then leave. He hadn't explained it quite so crudely to Stephanie but she got what he was trying to say. As for the strip clubs, she had known about that for a long time from eavesdropping on the other guy's conversations. Although, it was something that he hadn't mentioned to her directly.

As for Stephanie and her boyfriend, Anthony, they weren't doing so well. All summer he had made attempts to sleep with her, but she kept turning him down, limiting him to his feeble attempts at rubbing her through pants or grabbing at her breasts. She didn't know why she kept turning him down, either. She was almost 17 and felt ready for sex, just not with him. This annoyed him greatly and he would snap at her when she stopped him from going to far and would call her a tease. This almost always lead to an explosive argument that lead to Stephanie questioning if something was wrong with her because she didn't want to have sex with Anthony. Anthony was usually very nice to her, except in the instances when she refused to do more with him when he became quite a dick.

On one night at the end of August in particular, they were at a party together and had gone into a room alone, Stephanie was really enjoying making out with him and was even feeling okay as he switched from grabbing at her breasts to rubbing her through her shorts. He unbuttoned her shorts and she let him slip one hand inside her shorts and he began rubbing her a bit roughly through her panties.

"Ow" she winced.

"C'mon baby" Anthony said between kisses "It doesn't hurt, this is supposed to feel good for you."

He resumed what he had been doing until Stephanie stopped him "Well, it doesn't feel good."

"Steph, my last girlfriend loved this."

"Well, I'm not your last girlfriend. I'm your current girlfriend and I don't" Stephanie forced his hand out of her shorts and buttoned them back up "Let's just go back downstairs."

"Whatever, Steph." he got up off the bed and left, slamming the door on his way out. Ensuring that no argument would take place that evening unless Stephanie were to go downstairs and find him.

Stephanie didn't come downstairs for another 15 minutes and only then, it was to leave.

A couple days later she found herself thinking again of that night as she hid away in a corner at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event. She found a spot behind some large trunks and sat on the floor behind them. She had managed to hide there, undetected, for quite awhile until she heard a deep voice from above her.

"Hey, princess. Hidin' are we?"

"Hey, Mark." she mumbled as Mark sat down beside her.

She knew she never needed to invite him to sit. He always knew that he was welcome.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly, seeing the distraught look on her face.

"What would make you think something's wrong?"

"I haven't made in 28 years on sheer dumb luck, I can pick up on these little cues you women make. Like, lookin' upset then claiming to be fine, that means you're not fine."

"And do you often console upset women?"

"Usually I don't ask in the first place."

"You're such an ass!"

"I asked you, didn't I?"

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why did you ask me if I was upset?"

Mark gave Stephanie a look "Girl, do you think I talk to you because I wanna punish myself? No, I like your company and it's usually cheery company and seein' you like this…I dunno."

"Seeing me like what?"

"So upset!" Mark almost snapped "You're always so full of life and passion that seein' you like this, as if some lifeless, sad woman came and took over the Stephanie I know, well, it…I dunno."

"I should put a ban on you saying 'I dunno'." Stephanie teased.

"There's the Stephanie I do know." Mark smirked.

Things got quiet again as Stephanie thought about these past few months with Anthony and wondered if this is how relationships just are or if she just got into a bad one and wasted her time with a complete asshole. Either way, it upset her.

"I don't think things are going too well with my boyfriend and I." Stephanie said bluntly.

"And why not?"

"He's too rough with me…" Stephanie trailed off "…and he's constantly pressuring me and it's like he doesn't really care about me, just what he could do with me physically."

"Rough how?" Mark inquired and Stephanie could hear the anger in his voice.

"Like, when we're messing around. I tell him it hurts and it's too rough and he just insists that he ex-girlfriend liked it, so why wouldn't I?"

"It sounds like he doesn't know how to touch a woman." Mark avoided eye contact "And he also sounds like an inexperienced little prick if ya ask me, not that you were."

Stephanie let out a small giggle at first then a full on laugh as she envisioned Marks saying this to Anthony himself and the look of fear that would reside on Anthony's face.

As her laughter died down, though she thought about Mark's first statement and as nosy as ever she dug for more.

"And you do know how to touch a woman?"

Stephanie knew what a loaded question that was and she was edging for more commentary from him. He spoke so little about his personal life, let alone his sex life. She had gathered what she had about him through inference and picking up on tiny bits and pieces of information that he would mention over the course of several conversations and it took months to get the little information she had now. But she was so nosy, especially about man who had kept her up late most nights in the past summer in constant internal emotional turmoil over what she felt for him.

She also knew that he would definitely let his ego stand in the way of giving her a watered down answer to that question.

"Believe me, I know how to please a woman." Mark drawled.

"Oh, you think you do?" Stephanie retorted giving Mark a look.

"I think I do? I know I do." Mark was definitely letting his ego get in the way of this conversation "Says the girl with a boyfriend who can't please her."

"Maybe he's just not the right guy to know how." Stephanie said it and immediately wished she could take it back. It was like all her deepest thoughts that she tried to keep down had surfaced and were dictating what she was saying. That was something that she liked to think of and toy with the idea of late at night when she couldn't sleep, the idea that Mark was the right guy for her and could please her. But that was something she didn't think she would ever voice! Now she was sitting there and implying that exactly to the man himself!

All she would hope for at this point was for Mark to have either not heard it or to not understand her implication. It would make this friendship a lot easier if he felt so friendly, and older brother-esque to her that he didn't even understand what she was implying because that thought would never cross his mind. At the very least, Mark could change the conversation at this point and save her the embarrassment of having to cope with what she just said.

"Well, maybe he's not." Mark agreed before getting up and walking away.

Stephanie sat there for awhile longer, debating what Mark meant by that.


	2. Going To Hell

**Note:** Chapter 2 up! Actually, I had this written as apart of chapter 1 initially but figured it would be better to separate the two. This chapter may be a little shorter but from here on out, the backstory of how Mark and Stephanie even became friends in the first place is over and now some action can happen. Hope you enjoy!

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Mark Calaway prided himself on being a good, respectable man. He was a great employee and loved by almost all his co-workers, he had a great relationship with his family and his happily married parents called him once a week to see how he was, and despite the fact that he wasn't married and had no children in his late twenties, he felt fulfilled in life and content. This was before Stephanie McMahon came into the picture.

After his friendship with Stephanie McMahon began to deepen, things changed. He knew on the surface he was a great employee but he didn't feel like it. Every time Vince would call him into his office to speak with him, it was always good. It was always Vince complimenting him or presenting him with a new idea. But all Mark could think of since the beginning of summer was that he felt like he was betraying Vince for thinking of his daughter in such an adult way.

He had thought about fucking Stephanie several times while pleasuring himself at various times throughout the past summer and he knew that even once was one time too many. He always felt guilty after getting off to thoughts about bending the young woman over and fucking her senseless but he couldn't stop himself. One moment he'd be steadily stroking himself, thinking of a stripper grinding against him, and next that stripper would turn around and it would be Stephanie and he would be even more turned on.

It wasn't until she had even made her way onto his lips when he accidentally murmured her name as he was sleeping with another woman, that he became distraught over the matter. Stephanie McMahon had taken over his sex life and she wasn't even actually apart of it. What luck, Mark had often thought to himself, the one woman he desperately wants to fuck is not only underaged but his boss's daughter. Great.

As Stephanie's 17th birthday approached, Mark had debated telling her that he, himself, wanted to be her birthday present. Of course, he shot down that idea in his head. The only scary thing about it was that at first he actually considered it.

At least his actions were in check as he did nothing more than harmless flirting with the younger woman, something he didn't even know if she had picked up on. He would tease her and call her princess, among other pet names. He was sure she viewed all of this as him teasing her for being younger, just playful banter. But he saw it as some form of release of tension or even a foreplay of sorts. As sick as he thought it to be, flirting with Stephanie seemed to release some sexual tension as he could pretend he was being upfront and honest about what he wanted to do to her, even when he knew he wasn't saying that at all. A million pet names and winks couldn't help him, though, and he knew that it would inevitably lead to a guilt ridden masturbation session where afterwards he questioned his ethics.

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On the day of Stephanie's 17th birthday, Mark knew she would be backstage for a show tapping and he had gotten her a safe present: a bundle of her favorite movies on VHS. The only problem was that he couldn't find her. He had looked around everywhere and even asked a backstage crew member if they knew where she was, but nobody had seen her since her arrival.

It was only when Mark saw the stacks of trunks in a corner that he knew where she was, but he just needed to figure out why.

Stephanie was sat, leaned up against the trunks, completely out of sight of anyone who may casually walk by. She had just closed her eyes when she was startled by the deep, booming voice of her older friend.

"Hidin' again, princess?"

"Fuck, Mark" Stephanie caught her breath "You scared me!"

Mark chuckled as he sat down beside the girl "If you weren't hidin' yourself away, I wouldn't have scared you."

"I don't like your logic on that."

"Ya don't have to." Mark paused and when Stephanie didn't respond he continued "So why are you hidin'?"

"I'm not hiding…" Stephanie trailed off "I just didn't want anyone to see me cry."

"Cry? What? Why?"

"My boyfriend dumped me this morning. He said that it was obvious I didn't want to be with him because I wouldn't have sex with him after months of dating."

The truth was, Stephanie had mainly cried because it felt like losing someone who was apart of her life and he was her first kind of serious boyfriend, after all. But truth be told, it wasn't deeply impacting her. She knew it wasn't a deep wound and she would probably stop this pity party of nonsensical sorrow by next week.

Mark almost didn't know what to say "Well…if you're not ready then you're not ready. He's just a stupid little asshole."

"But I am ready" Stephanie shook her head "Just not with him."

"So, someone else then?" Mark was internally kicking himself for asking such a leading question that would inevitably only lead to further fueling his late night fantasies.

Stephanie didn't respond and they sat in silence for a few moments before she looked at Mark and noticed the present resting on his lap.

"Ooooh, what's that?" Stephanie was clearly trying to change the subject but Mark was going to let her.

"This, princess, is your birthday present" Mark held it out for her to take "Not that you need anymore presents."

Stephanie smirked "Aw, don't say that, I can always use more presents."

"I should've known you'd become a super brat on your birthday when you're a brat every other day" Mark teased her.

Stephanie playfully shoved him "And just how am I a brat?"

"Always asking for more, getting mad when things don't go your way, wanting what you can't have" Mark pretended as though he was reading off a scroll.

"Not true," Stephanie joked "I mean, what can't I have? I can have whatever I want."

Stephanie loved their banter. She loved when Mark teased her and she played up her being a spoiled brat, it made for some funny conversations.

"Oh, you think you can?" Mark looked at the younger woman, making eye contact.

"Yeah," Stephanie nodded, not breaking their eye contact "I think I can have whatever I want."

Mark was looking at Stephanie's lips now. They looked so soft and tender and he wanted nothing more than to part them with his tongue and taste her.

It could have been his recent thoughts that lead to his penis apparently taking control of his vocal chords but before he had a chance to stop himself he replied "And what do you want, princess?"

Stephanie's eyes sparkled and she blushed at Mark's question and his lowered yet deepened voice. But, she didn't respond. She just gave him this innocent yet somehow devious grin that only she could pull off and he was done.

He closed the gap between them, leaned in, and pressed his lips against hers. At first she didn't respond at all, almost frozen but after a moment she kissed him back and they seemed suspended in this moment that neither believed was real. Mark deepened the kiss slightly, briefly flicking his tongue against her slightly parted lips. He cupped one side of her face and she opened her mouth enough to let his tongue in for a moment. She tasted just as good as he had imagined and he wanted to pull her closer to him when they heard a booming voice in the background.

"Somebody find Scott Hall! He's supposed to head out in five fucking minutes where is that guy!" Vince yelled.

They quickly broke apart. Vince's voice was enough to startle them both away, even if his yelling wasn't directed at them as they were safely hidden out of view. But, as both their minds slowly came back down to Earth and they began to process the magnitude of what they had just done.

"Vince can't ever know." Mark almost whispered, shaking his head.

"He won't." Stephanie reassured him.

They sat in silence, neither wanting to talk about what just happened or what it meant for their friendship. Mark couldn't believe that he had just done that, that he had actually gone ahead and kissed her. Unfortunately, instead of feeling like he was fine and had gotten it out of his system, he just wanted more.

Stephanie desperately wanted to say something and the silence was eating away at her. She wanted to tell him about how long she has wanted to kiss him and that he is the guy that she wants to have sex with but when she looked over at Mark she could swear that she saw a look of regret on his face.

She was right. He did have regret smeared all over his face, not over the kiss itself, but because he wished he hadn't broken off the kiss after they heard Vince's loud ass voice. He wondered what would have happened if he had kept kissing her but he decided to not go down that road. After all, this was only Stephanie's 17th birthday, she was still technically a minor and he didn't want to risk anything over his inability to control himself. He was already fairly positive that he was going to hell over kissing his boss's underaged daughter.

Mark let out a sigh and reached his long arm out to rest his hand on Stephanie's thigh. They stayed like that for a moment and Stephanie felt reassured that even if he regretted it, their friendship wasn't over. There was still hope.

"Hey, happy birthday Stephanie." Mark looked at the young woman and smiled.

She smiled back and Mark began to think that if he was going to hell, this was a pretty good way to go.


	3. Flushed Cheeks

**Note:** In this chapter I just use the real first names of a few of the wrestlers (i.e. Rodney = Yokozuna, Will = Paul Bearer, Solofa = Rikishi/Fatu, and Randy Poffo = Randy Savage) Just wanted to clear that up for anyone who was like 'who are these people?'. Okay, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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The following months, they both pretended that nothing had ever happened. They continued to chat like normal and never mentioned that day or that kiss or the way it made either of them feel. Mark wasn't about to admit that he wanted to taste more than just Stephanie's lips and Stephanie wasn't going to admit that she wanted more than just a kiss from Mark. But Mark had been very careful with his words since the kiss and he kept a fair distance from Stephanie, so she got the memo and played along. To keep the peace and follow the path they both knew to be safer and much less complicated, they kept to safe conversation and minimal teasing. This was really more detrimental than beneficial, though, as it left both of them craving more than this very limited friendship they forced themselves into.

Stephanie desperately wanted Mark to call her princess again and tease her about something, anything that would indicate he still wanted to flirt a bit with her, that he still wanted her in some way. Whatever way that was, she didn't care. She just wanted the Mark she knew back rather than this overly cautious man who was careful to not slip up and call her princess or tease her when she acted bratty. It was like she was talking to a random guy backstage who didn't want to upset Vince's daughter so they made sure to say what she wanted to hear and kept their distance. But, Stephanie allowed it from Mark as much as it bothered her because she didn't want to lose him. She still had hope that they would get together someday, even if that wasn't right now. She was willing to wait.

Mark was perhaps more of a mess than Stephanie. He told his older brother about kissing the girl and his brother warned him to be careful, he warned him that if things went wrong, he could be in some serious trouble. Not only that, but this would surely effect Stephanie's relationship with her father if Vince were to find out. So, Mark decided that it was best for both of them to just forget the kiss ever happened and maybe if they acted like it didn't happen then one day he could stop thinking about her and her soft lips that tasted too good for this world.

And so this charade continued until the annual Christmas party.

This year Vince had decided to host the Christmas party at his home in Connecticut and as he sat in the car with Rodney, Will, and Solofa, he thought about Stephanie McMahon a little too much.

All his closest friends were married and couldn't understand this internal conflict he was having about letting himself give into temptation with Stephanie, not that he was planning on telling them. He had layers to his personal sex life. He had what he presented to acquaintances (which was providing them with minimal knowledge except for basics, like that he wasn't married), the part he presented to his close buddies (which was that he fucked a fair number of women frequently and enjoyed going to strip clubs), and the part that he kept to himself (which was that he only wanted to fuck Stephanie McMahon and even though he hadn't done that, he had kissed her). He was positive that if his buddies found out that he hadn't fucked Stephanie but had only kissed her, they would assume much more was happening than he was letting on, like a real relationship or some shit like that.

Little did Mark know that his friends did think that something was up with him, but they had no idea what.

When they arrived at the McMahon house, they were greeted by Vince immediately who went through saying a polite 'hello' to everyone and when he got to Mark he embraced the man in his arms.

"Hey Mark! Great to see you! Glad you could make it" Vince let the man go.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it. I'm sure it'll be a great party" Mark looked around and noticed Stephanie lingering behind Vince alongside her mother. Her face looked a little flushed and she was smiling. Could the girl be drunk? And so early? Sure, Mark and the boys didn't show up especially early but he didn't think that they'd shown up too late either.

"People got here a bit early so you'll have to knock back a few to get on par with a lot of the guys" Vince joked.

Okay, apparently they had arrived a bit late compared to everyone else and from the looks of little Miss. McMahon, she had been sneaking alcohol from the get go to get to her drunk state now. Mark wondered how her parents hadn't noticed her flushed cheeks or her unusual amount of smiling and then he pondered if it wasn't really that obvious and he just paid so much attention to the young woman that he noticed any little change in her. The latter scared him a bit and he cut off that line of thinking as quickly as he had started it.

"I see that. Well, I'll be sure to catch up. Just point me in the direction of the bar" Mark chuckled.

Vince turned around "Hey Steph, can you show Mark to the bar?"

"Yeah, of course daddy" Stephanie nodded and skipped, yes skipped, up to Mark "Right this way, sir."

Mark would be lying if he said that the way she called him 'sir' didn't stir him up a little bit and if that wasn't bad enough, he took note of Stephanie's short skirt as she began to lead him to the bar. Clearly, God was testing him tonight.

As they got into the hallway, and out of sight, he bent down to Stephanie's ear and whispered "Someone's gotten into the liquor cabinet already."

Stephanie stopped walking, turned towards him, and put her hand on her chest, trying to over-exaggerate her offense "Well, sir, I am offended you would think such a thing because I am underaged and would never drink alcohol."

There was that 'sir' again and Mark felt his pants getting tighter. He had heard Stephanie's tales of getting drunk at parties and even how she once fell into a pond while drunkenly stumbling home, but had never personally experienced a drunk Stephanie. He should probably have been thankful for that because with every word she spoke he was forgetting how he had resolved to keep things platonic between them.

"Well, considering your claim to have never drank alcohol, it is odd that I smell alcohol on your breath. Isn't it, princess?" Mark played along with her, even using his pet name for her, something he really shouldn't have done.

Stephanie smirked, pleased that her drunken self had gotten him to call her princess again. She missed it more than she could say.

"That is quite odd, are you sure you're smelling alcohol?" Stephanie leaned in closer to Mark "Maybe you should confirm that?"

Mark desperately wanted to confirm that. He wanted to push her against the wall and kiss her deeply. Unfortunately, not only were they in a hallway that someone could very well casually walk into, but he had been trying to pretend their last kiss didn't happen because continuing down this path was not a safe one.

"Why don't you show me to the bar, Steph" Mark said bluntly.

Stephanie was a little hurt. She thought that would work and when he turned her down, her face visibly dropped and she looked away. Mark saw her facial expression and felt a pang to his heart. He hated hurting her and wanted to tell her that he was so desperate to kiss her again, but couldn't. He couldn't because he didn't want to risk their friendship, his job, her relationship with her father, or worst of all, ruining her teenage years by fucking her up with his antics.

"Okay, yeah..." Stephanie turned around and started walking. Mark followed closely behind, feeling like a prize asshole but knowing it was for the best.

She lead him over the bar which was fully stocked and even had a bartender there, who had clearly been working hard for his paycheck that evening.

"Have a nice night, Mark." Stephanie said coldly, slowly walking away.

Okay, now Mark truly felt like a prize asshole. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do but evidently the one thing he had managed to do this night. He really needed a drink if he was going to make it through this night.

* * *

Mark spent the next several hours nursing several glasses of Jack Daniels while mingling amongst his coworkers. He chatted and laughed at the appropriate times but he wasn't really present for any of it. If he was being honest, he really spent those several hours keeping an eye on a drunk Stephanie McMahon. He noticed every time she would leave one conversation to go talk to someone else, which was only three times. The remainder of the time she spent searching for either of her parents, making eye contact with Mark, scowling at him, then she would proceed to stalk off in the opposite direction.

It was around 12:30p.m. when Will came up to him.

"Mark? We're going to head out soon. Rodney and Solofa are wasted" Will chuckled, remembering their drunken slurs that they wanted to pass out.

"Okay, sounds good." Mark replied, nodding.

As Will walked away, Mark took a look around the room and his eyes landed once again on Stephanie but narrowed as soon as he saw who she was talking to: an equally as drunk Randy Poffo who was a little too close to Stephanie.

Stephanie looked up for a moment and saw that Mark was looking over at her and Randy, as she knew he would be. After all, he had been basically tracking her movements all night. She leaned in closer to Randy and laughed as he said something that was incredibly unfunny to her, but did it matter? Mark wouldn't know that. She just wanted to get his attention and noted that she could laugh later about the comments he would make to her if he knew that.

By this point, Mark was making his way over to the two and when he got there he looked back and forth between the odd pair "Hey, what's goin' on here?"

"Hey Mark!" Randy drunkenly slurred, attempting to give the bigger man a hug "I was just telling Steph that she's grown up so much, am I right?"

Mark cringed at how sleazy that sounded coming from this man. He considered himself to be sick for wanting to get with the seventeen year old Stephanie, but it wasn't as if he was recently divorced and desperate for attention from women. Sure, he was eleven years older than her but Randy was well over double Stephanie's age. The man was forty-one years old, hitting on a teenager.

"Steph, could I speak with you?" Mark asked sternly.

"Hey man, maybe next week you two can do your little chatty chat thing, but for now this fine lady wants to talk to me." Randy smirked, looking Stephanie up and down, something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl.

"Yeah Mark, but what about?" Stephanie was almost taunting him at this point.

"Oh, just about what I thought of that movie you recommended" Mark gave her a look that only she noticed.

"That can definitely wait, man. Steph and I have some more chatting to do and-" Randy drunkenly insisted.

"Yeah, let's go talk about that" Stephanie interrupted Randy and walked off towards the hallway she had lead them to earlier that evening. Mark took off after her and left Randy there, angry and drunk.

Once Stephanie saw that Mark was in the hallway she opened a door and motioned for him to follow her. They slipped into the room and down the stairs in what Mark quickly concluded was their basement.

As soon as Stephanie flicked on the light at the bottom of the stairs, Mark pinned her against the wall "Just what the hell do you think you're doing? Flirting with Randy? That man is over twice your age."

"He was flirting with me! Besides, you're eleven years older than me."

"I don't flirt with you." Mark lied.

"Oh, you're right, kissing me isn't flirting."

"God damnit, Steph!"

"What? Did I bring up something I shouldn't have?"

"You have quite the mouth on you, little girl."

"And you have quite the mouth on you, sir." she winked at him.

He paced back and forth for a moment as he felt his pants tightening again and he fought to not think about Stephanie teasing him like that. How did he manage to get himself caught up with Vince McMahon's spitfire of a daughter? He was usually so good at avoiding trouble.

"You know, before I started talkin' to you, I was totally fine. I had my life together."

"Yeah, going to strip clubs and fucking randoms sounds like having your life together."

"At least they didn't keep me up thinkin' about them! I haven't lost any sleep over any woman I've fucked!"

Stephanie was stunned by his angry admission and Mark was too. He wanted to take it back and pretend it never happened like the kiss but he knew this wouldn't be as easily ignored as the kiss. This was him admitting that he thought about her, not only that, but that he lost sleep thinking about her.

"I don't know when it started exactly but," Mark kept going, now just blaming the few drinks he had for this confession "I never wanted it to go this far. I spent this whole fucking party watching you and making sure you were fine. How fucked up is that?"

"That's not fucked up at all." Stephanie contended "That's sweet and caring."

"I should not be being sweet and caring to a seventeen year old! I should be polite and respectful, but nothing beyond that" Mark shook his head "Don't you get it? This can't happen."

Stephanie felt her stomach tie into a tight knot as she tried to think of a way out of this. She didn't want this conversation to end with Mark ending their friendship or declaring that nothing could ever happen between them because she fiercely wanted something to happen, something more than just a kiss.

"You know when I told you that I was ready to have sex, just not with Anthony?" Stephanie asked.

"Oh God, Steph. Don't."

"And you asked if I was with someone else then?" Stephanie hesitated momentarily "Well, that someone else is you. Mark, I have wanted you for so long and I am so grateful for our friendship and I would take that over nothing, but I...I want to be with you."

Mark tried to take it all in. He tried to process it all. He tried. But, between the Jack Daniels and the short skirt she had on and the things she was saying, that she wanted him. Yes, she wanted him. He decided he would rather wake up regretting everything once again and thinking of how Vince would plot his murder than deny himself yet again.

He pinned her against the wall, pressing his body against hers, he bent down so that their lips were almost touching and whispered "Do you feel what you do to me, Steph?"

She felt him pressed against her and she bit her lip "I think you should feel what you do to me."

That was it, Mark was over the edge, and he knew the devil would be waiting for him shaking his head when he got to hell.

He kissed her. But not like before, he kissed her hard. He nipped at her lips and forced his tongue into her mouth while Stephanie wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to pull him closer if that was possible. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Mark had felt her skirt ride up and pressed himself against her as he moved from her delicious lips to her neck where he sucked rather bombastically in different spots. As he moved to her collarbone to leave several kisses and soft bites there, Stephanie moaned and Mark thought that it may have been the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

"Oh shit! Mark! I'm so sorry!" a voice said from behind the two.

Mark thought at that moment it was a very real possibility that his heart could beat out of his chest. Someone had caught them. Someone had seen them and he was going to lose his job. This was it. He had fucked up and now he would have to face the consequences of that. He momentarily pondered if once Vince found out he would hire a hitman.

He slowly let Stephanie down, turned around and saw his lovable, plump manager Will standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"I just couldn't find you and we were ready to go..." Will looked past Mark and saw the face of the woman his friend had been pressed against.

"Will..." Mark began but didn't know where to go. How was he supposed to nicely demand that Will never tell a soul about this ever?

"Your secret is safe with me." Will nodded and started walking up the stairs "But we do have to go."

"Oh...okay yeah, thank you...yeah" Mark was frazzled to say the least "I'll...I'll see you soon, Steph."

"See you soon, Mark." Steph agreed as she watched Mark somehow stumble his way upstairs as if the man had forgotten how to walk.

* * *

Stephanie slumped down the wall as soon as she heard the basement door click shut. She was still in shock over what had just happened and her drunk brain wasn't really allowing her to run through it as she would like. She was only able to formulate pieces of it together and let out a sigh. She had wanted that for so long from Mark, but she still wasn't satisfied. Now, she wanted more. Wanted more kissing, less clothing, more exploring, and less reservations.

Even her drunk brain knew that she didn't just want that, though.

Stephanie wanted Mark. She wanted all of him and certainly not just in bed but everyday. She wanted to be with him but had no idea if he would ever want to be with her. Clearly, he had sexual desire for her, that wasn't the problem. Stephanie wanted that desire to extend to her entire being, she wanted him to desire her as a whole and as more than just friends.

After nearly twenty minutes of sitting, trying to piece together that night and how much she wanted Mark, she felt herself tiring. Even her drunken mind was telling to stop and to go to sleep.

She meandered her way upstairs once more and just as she was closing the basement door, her father appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hey sweetie! Have fun tonight?" Vince asked, smiling. She could tell he was a little bit drunk.

"Yeah, daddy! So much fun!" she tried to perk up or at least act like it for her father.

"That's great!" Vince sipped on his wine "Have you seen Mark anywhere? Will said they were leaving soon and I just wanted to say bye before they all left."

"Uh, I dunno where he could be" Stephanie shrugged "Sorry!"

"Oh, no worries honey! I'm sure I'll find him."

With that, Vince took off in search of Mark who had already left. Stephanie made her way up to her bed and laid down. Even then, her father asking about Mark in such a casual way had her heart beating faster. Any mention of him by her father made her nervous and she knew Mark must feel this threefold because she knew her father would always love her no matter what, but that love would not extend to Mark if he found out about what he did with his daughter.

Stephanie hated admitting that Mark was right but she knew it would be safer if they never went further down this path and stopped all the messing around right now. But, she didn't want that and she didn't really care about what was safer. She wanted to continue down the path and didn't really care where it lead.

* * *

The drive back to the hotel was silent. Mark didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

After Will and Mark had gotten Rodney and Solofa into their hotel room, the two men went off to theirs, still walking in silence. As soon as Mark sat down on his bed he decided to try to explain things to Will, if only so the man wasn't ever tempted to go back on his word.

"What you saw..." Mark sighed "That isn't a regular thing."

"Okay." Will rummaged through his suitcase for his pajama bottoms.

"Her and I...we've only ever kissed once before, a few months ago." Mark tried to explain but he wasn't sure what to say or how much to say. Probably because he himself had no idea what was happening.

"Okay."

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Will sighed heavily "Mark, I have known you for years and I know what kind of a person you are. I'm not concerned that you've coerced Vince's daughter into some weird affair, if that's what you're wondering. I don't think you're a predator and if anything, I'm glad I know now why you've been so weird."

"Why I've been so weird?"

"You've been different for months now, always off in thought, never fully there unless you're in the ring, and I've seen more women pass through your hotel rooms in the last few months than I have in the last few years."

"So how does what you saw tonight explain any of that?"

"I now know that you wanna be with Stephanie and you're trying to fight that."

"No, I don't wanna be with Stephanie. I just wanna get with her" Mark tried to correct his older friend, who he really couldn't believe he was admitting this to.

"Whatever you say." Will dismissed him and went into the bathroom to change.

Mark rested his head in his hands. Why couldn't he just fuck Stephanie and get it out of his system? Life would be so much easier. Then, he could go back to what he knew as normal before this woman took over his life. Surely after having Stephanie in bed, he would get this out of his system. One fuck, maybe two, and she could go back to just being a friend.

He didn't even want to think about what Will thought was happening. Not a chance.

Mark crawled into bed and shut his eyes. As he tried to fall asleep his mind ran through the events of the evening and he kept coming back to the feeling of being pressed against Stephanie and her sweet moans. The last thing he remembered thinking about wasn't how her mouth tasted even better this time around, but instead her sweet flushed cheeks and just how angelic she looked. How she always looked.


	4. Daily Affirmations

**Note:** Okay, so admittedly this chapter is like fluffy filler. But, every story has to have to fluffy filler chapters to offset the dramatic longer ones. I hope you enjoy it anyways!

* * *

On Christmas Day, Mark was with his family in Houston. It was nice to see them again and he had even gone a couple hours without Stephanie crossing his mind but when his older brother, Mike, showed up with his wife, Mark thought about Stephanie and he hated it. He hated that he thought about her when he saw his brother's wife.

He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie.

That mantra had become a daily affirmation of sorts and he recited it in his mind several times every day. He had been doing that for the last five days since the Christmas party incident of '93, as Will had jokingly dubbed it. Mark found it to be not so funny. Will spent the next day putting ideas in Mark's head that maybe Mark wasn't just after Stephanie's body but rather Stephanie, the girl he was so keen to describe every detail of to Will when the older man prodded for more information. Mark hated that he had told Will everything about Stephanie like a little girl giggling about her crush to her friends. That was when he created his daily affirmation which was helpful for the first two days but the more he said it, the more he just thought about Stephanie and not just about wanting to fuck her. Oh no.

He thought about their ongoing debates over current political issues and their discussions about the latest movies to come out (which, they always agreed upon what they thought was good and bad). He thought about the way she could go on about wrestling the same way he could and he loved that she had enjoyed the first UFC event that had aired a month ago. He perhaps lingered thinking a little too long on the way she stormed over to him when she felt the need to rant about something; he could picture the passion that flared up behind her eyes no matter what the issue. And he found it to be absolutely adorable the way she wound her hair around her finger when she was thinking. It was something that she did without thinking about it, but he noticed it every time.

This was exactly why his daily affirmations were failing him.

Of course as soon as he had stopped thinking about Stephanie, his brother asked about her. He told him about the Christmas party incident of '93 and about the things he said to Will and what Will had said to him, to which Mike shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean, I've never heard ya talk 'bout any other woman the way you talk 'bout her. Not that I approve or nothin', she is a bit young. But man, you're still hung up on this girl after months."

"I'm not hung up on Stephanie!"

"You just told me 'bout how ya told Will everythin' about this woman. And not about how nice her tits looked, but what her favorite things are, what kinda things set her off, and all these little things that I don't even notice 'bout Laura!"

"Well yeah, because Steph and I are friends first and foremost."

Mike just shook his head "Look, I didn't think you should've kept this whole thing happenin', but since you did I think now you're in way too deep man."

Mark refused to admit that he had been in way too deep from the first time he called her princess and that he was past the point of no return when he first kissed her, the Christmas party incident of '93 was just there to secure his place in hell.

* * *

It wasn't until later in the night, after most of Mark's already married off and with kids family had arrived, that he began to want to talk to Stephanie. He didn't know about what, he just wanted to talk to her and he tried to go through his daily affirmations and they worked a little bit at first but they seemed pointless after awhile.

They became especially pointless as he picked up the phone and dialed the McMahon house number. He didn't really have a plan but he figured he might as well take a chance of having Stephanie pick up the phone and if she didn't, he could at least pretend to be a great employee and wish Vince a Merry Christmas.

Mark was confused and in denial and with each ring he felt weaker and weaker. How did this little girl have so much control over him? She wasn't even here! She wasn't even trying to exert any control for that matter!

 _"Hello?"_

"Steph?"

 _"Mark?"_

"Hey, princess."

Stephanie's voice noticeably perked up on the phone _"Merry Christmas!"_

"Merry Christmas to you too."

 _"You called."_

It wasn't a question.

"I did."

 _"How was your Christmas?"_

"It was nice. I'm at my parents house with family, got to see everyone. How was yours?"

 _"Good! I mean, I got a lot of cool stuff and saw some family earlier."_

"Get spoiled again, princess?" he teased her.

 _"What would Christmas be if it didn't involve spoiling Stephanie McMahon?"_

"I dunno, maybe Jesus' birthday?"

 _"Details, details."_ she giggled.

He was smiling, not that she could see it, but he was smiling like an idiot while talking in a hushed tone over the phone to avoid any family taking notice. Unfortunately, he had noted that a few people had glanced in his direction numerous times with an odd expression. It wasn't as though he had anyone else to call, right? His family was all here.

"Well, I just wanted to...call."

 _"It was nice to hear your voice. I'm glad you called."_

"Me too. Okay, well, I'll see you soon." Mark paused and when Stephanie didn't respond immediately he added on "Merry Christmas, princess."

If Mark could reach out to grab his words he would and he would take them back. The way he had said 'princess' was not in his usual teasing tone, but rather as if she was genuinely his princess. He didn't even know if he meant it like that but surely he didn't want to say it to Stephanie. He had spent months pretending a kiss didn't happen then he let it happen again and all of a sudden he was a lovesick little puppy, calling her up on Christmas day and saying princess as though she was the love of his life.

 _"Merry Christmas, Mark."_

She hung up first. She did. As if he needed to feel like a weaker man, she had hung up on him. He was the one who was lingering around on the phone waiting for something else, but for what?

He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie.

"So much for just wantin' to fuck Stephanie" Mike appeared behind him. He could read Mark like a book. That, and he had overheard the end of their conversation.

"Fuck off" Mark muttered "I do just wanna fuck her. Just wanna fuck her and be friends, nothin' more."

"Do ya call all the other girls 'princess' too?"

"That's not fair, Steph isn't like the other girls."

Mike didn't need to reply. He just stood there and smirked, pleased and how he had gotten Mark to back himself into a corner and Mike even got to see Mark's signature Undertaker scowl when he realized what he'd said.

"Like I said, fuck off." Mark grunted as he walked away.

As Mark laid in his old bed in his childhood bedroom that night, he decided that he had a moment of weakness, seeing all of his family with their spouses and their kids and that calling Stephanie in the first place just came from a place of loneliness. And he had also decided that calling Stephanie 'princess' the way he had was just a mistake. Just an unintentional slip up that he hadn't meant to do. That whole conversation just shouldn't have happened at all.

He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie.

Maybe if he said it enough it would be true.

* * *

Stephanie was absolutely floored when Mark called her, but she had tried to play it cool, after all she was trying to show him that she could be an adult about this whole situation they were in. But, when he called her princess, she knew she had to get off the phone immediately or she would risk saying way more than planned. She didn't want to pour her heart out about how long she's had a crush on him and how she wanted nothing more than to be with him. Mainly because she didn't want to come off like some needy little teenager, which she usually wasn't.

Her dad had asked her who called once she got off the phone and returned to the kitchen to snack with her family. She lied and told him that it was her friend, Veronica. Stephanie was a rather proficient liar when it came to her parents. She knew she couldn't tell them that Mark had called to wish her a Merry Christmas. No, just her, not Vince. After all, she was the smartest in her class and in her own personal opinion, more mature than a lot of people her age.

She didn't feel like her friends who claimed to be more mature but went around to parties hooking up with random, gross guys. She felt like she was actually mature and considering she had gotten herself into a rather adult situation, she thought this line of thinking was justified.

Mature for her age or not, she knew seventeen still meant a minor and that Mark was not likely to cross that line. He had too many morals that he liked to stick by and she already could sense him beating himself up for even kissing her.

Even with all his damned morals, she wished he would just come around to it and see how perfect they were. The way she saw it.

* * *

The day after Christmas, Mark had packed up his suitcase and was ready to leave. He was saying his goodbyes to his parents that morning after breakfast, a little melancholic about having to get back on the road.

His mom had her arms wrapped around him, squeezing him more than hugging him "I'll miss you so much my Marky!"

"I'll miss ya too, Mom." he hugged her back until she reluctantly let go.

"Now next time you come, you bring that girl Mike mentioned along!" she insisted.

Mark felt his face going completely red. In private the previous day, Mike had told their mother about Stephanie. He left out her age and that she was his boss's daughter, but he told him about how Mark talked about her and what he knew.

"Maybe, Mom, we'll see." Mark laughed nervously as he made his way outside to his truck with his parents waving goodbye at the door.

Great, now he was stuck with a long drive alone in his truck with that to think about. He had to think about what it would be like introducing Stephanie to his mother and he knew that they'd get along great. That killed him and he gritted his teeth, trying to stop thinking about it. He didn't need to be thinking about how Stephanie would make harmless jokes about Mark to his mom and how his mom would think that Stephanie was the cutest girl and so perfect for him. He certainly didn't need to be thinking about any of that.

He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie. He just wanted to fuck Stephanie.

Then he ruined those affirmations when he thought about how his mom would say that Stephanie was so sweet when he knew she was in fact a little spitfire filled with enough passion and sass to light Houston. But he liked that and wouldn't have her any other way.


	5. The Barbecue

**Note:** Hi everyone! This chapter jumps ahead to June of 1994 (because damn, chapter 5 and we're not even close to present day yet, 22 more years to go). I don't know if I indicated in earlier chapters that this is a story that follows Mark and Stephanie through the years. But that's what this is! Okay, hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Since the Christmas party incident of '93, the Christmas call of '93, and the failed daily affirmations, Mark was desperately searching for ways to get Stephanie out of his head. Especially considering he was back to see her every week, sometimes twice a week.

Mark had tried to convince himself that he didn't want to be with Stephanie McMahon. He had truly tried so hard. Around mid-January of 1994 he finally was able to admit to himself what Will and Mike had both known.

He was walking over to talk to Stephanie before his match when he stopped dead in his tracks. He saw her sitting at a table, writing away in her journal, not about her personal life or anything but just short stories or really anything creative that came to her mind. She loved writing, but refused to share it with anyone and the most he ever got was a quick glimpse one day as he read over her shoulder. That is, until she noticed him and proceeded to whack him several times with a notebook.

That day was different, though. He didn't want to peer over her shoulder but rather just admire her. The way her long brown hair kept falling into her face, the intense look she got as she fought to keep her usually unruly penmanship neat, and the occasional smile that past her lips when she got a good idea or wrote a clever line. All the while, she sat there looking effortlessly beautiful in her oversized sweatshirt that read 'Class of '94' on the back, no makeup because the girl could never be bothered, and the biggest (and coziest, as she would argue) sweatpants he'd ever seen on such a tiny person.

It was then that he realized that he was eternally fucked.

He wanted Stephanie McMahon.

And he didn't just want to fuck her and be done with her, but he wanted her. He wanted her wearing her oversized clothing around his house, he wanted her whining about how early it was and cursing at him only to apologize for her grumpiness hours later. He wanted her putting too much food on her plate only to realize that her eyes were bigger than her stomach and he wanted her insisting that she was right and even when she was wrong, not admitting to it. He just wanted her. All of her and all that she was.

He had almost talked himself into telling her this, almost.

Then, he saw Vince walk up to her and ask her how her night was going and he knew he couldn't. He couldn't tell Stephanie this. As much as she had made it clear that she wanted him, that wasn't the issue, he couldn't do it. He didn't want fuck things up and have her hate him forever. Not only would their friendship be ruined, but his career would be ruined, and also, her outlook towards relationships would be ruined. Even if he could put aside the age difference and keep it a secret from Vince, if things went south, they were both fucked.

Because of that he chose to ignore every single one of Stephanie's rambling about romantic comedies and do what the protagonist always does before the climax of the film: cut off his feelings for her and distract himself. Only he assumed that this would not be the pre-climax of their movie, this was the conclusion. Mark realized his feelings and that was it. He knew it was safer to ignore them and that Stephanie would probably find a great guy her own age who wouldn't have baggage. Someone who she could introduce to her parents and have Vince invite him out for a round of golf because he was just so damned happy that Stephanie found someone so perfect for her. Mark already hated this imaginary guy.

Post-realization and into full distraction mode, Mark began going out to strip clubs every chance he got, which his buddies were thrilled about. He had even gone out a few times with Shawn, Scott, and Kevin on nights that his usual crew weren't up to it. He always got a lap dance and tried to make sure the girl faced him for the most part so his mind didn't imagine the woman was Stephanie. He took home a different woman at least twice a week and made sure they were anything but brunette so it would be easier to remember that they weren't Stephanie. Even though he would close his eyes and imagine they were anyways. He had moaned 'Steph' more times than he would care to admit.

Nothing was really working but he could at least go for bits of time when he was drunk without thinking about her, so that was a positive. To think he was so close during Christmastime to breaking down and just admitting that he wanted her, during a time when he hadn't even been able to admit that to himself. He couldn't believe his self control had sunk so low. Now, he thought, he had control again.

Things seemed back to normal between him and Stephanie. They chatted like normal, picked on each other like normal, and on occasion, argued like normal. Neither of them crossed the line or made any attempts to. Mark only called Stephanie 'princess' to tease her about her brattiness, and certainly never in a blatantly endearing way.

Mark's brother still called him once a week and always brought up Stephanie, but Mark assured him that he had gotten things under control. As much as he wanted her, he would just continue to deny himself because then he could keep his friendship, his job, and some of his morals in tact. Every time Mark reiterated this to his older brother, Mike just called him an idiot and told him that he was being stubborn. And much to Mark's chagrin, his brother told him that he was just denying everything because he wanted to spare himself in case things went badly.

Mark really hated when he said that. Surely he was denying himself for better reasons than 'what if I'm left heartbroken by my dream girl'? Right? There's no way Stephanie could be his dream girl. Right? Mark constantly reaffirmed himself that Stephanie was seventeen and God wouldn't be so cruel as to make Mark's soulmate eleven years younger than him so he wouldn't ever think it was her. Right?

Who knew, but Will was truly sick of hearing about all of it. He had reached the end of his rope and was so close to just yelling at his idiot younger friend. He wanted to scream at him for being so stupid. It seemed like both people who knew the full story about the two of them wanted to yell at Mark for being such a moron.

As for Stephanie, she had found out about Mark's constant strip club nights out and the women he would take home. She asked Will about Mark, considering the older man had agreed to keep the secret of what he saw, there would be no harm in asking him. So, he kept her informed and it seemed like every time she asked he told her another story that upset her. He could see it on her face too, which made him want to yell at Mark all the more.

But, Stephanie decided that instead of lying down and just dealing with Mark being an asshole, she would match him. She began going to more parties and hooked up with guys any chance she got. She never had sex with any of them, though, and when they kissed her she was mildly repulsed by their sloppiness and inexperience. She craved Mark's experienced tongue and his expertise. Mark made her weak in the knees and these guys just made her cringe. But, she wasn't going to let Mark win so she considered each boy to be a notch in her belt and in some sort of sick way, something to throw in Mark's face if it ever came to that.

So, they both continued with their antics for six whole months.

Six months of Stephanie making out with guys at parties and wishing they were Mark.

Six months of Mark sleeping with random women and wishing they were Stephanie.

All the while, Stephanie knew all about what Mark was doing but Mark had no clue what Stephanie was doing. They were engaged in a war that neither would admit to.

Once summer hit, Vince announced his big summer barbecue and invited everyone. Mark immediately had flashbacks to the last party he attended at the McMahon home and prayed that this time things would go smoothly, he wouldn't focus on Stephanie, he would mingle, he wouldn't think about how much he wanted Stephanie, he would maybe talk to someone he usually doesn't, and he definitely would not think about how much he wanted to Stephanie.

As usual, Mark's resolution faded the moment he arrived at the damned barbecue.

* * *

He arrived on time this time around so as to not be caught off guard by a drunk Stephanie that he knew he would give into. Fortunately, when he got there he was greeted by Stephanie at the gates to their backyard and she wasn't drunk. Unfortunately, Stephanie was the most clever little she devil Mark would ever meet.

"Hey Mark!" Stephanie beamed as she approached him.

"Hey there, Steph" Mark smiled "I'm not late this time, am I?"

"Nope, right on time" Stephanie stepped aside as a young man came up to stand beside her "This is Jeff, he's a close friend of mine."

Stephanie could almost hear Mark gritting his teeth and trying to bite his tongue to not say anything. Stephanie had never mentioned a Jeff to Mark because until a month ago, she didn't even know Jeff and since then she had only made out with him once and during that he had only felt her up. Other than that, he sometimes rambled about football but she didn't really pay attention. Despite this, she figured she could put up with Jeff for a day if she could make Mark believe Jeff actually meant something to her.

Now, all she had to do was hide the devilish grin she felt creeping up along her face and maybe this plan would actually work. She had grown tired of Mark's antics and her graduation from high school had made her realize she needed to act fast before she wasn't around as much. She was worried that when she went away to school, that Mark would find someone and fall in love and Stephanie would be nothing but the girl he once had a sort of, kind of thing with.

"A close friend?" Mark inquired, not even acknowledging the younger man, if Mark could call this kid that. The younger boy was more accurate.

"Yeah, a close friend" Stephanie mused, smiling.

"Okay." Mark almost growled "Where's your dad?"

"In the backyard, I can show you if you'd like" Stephanie offered.

"No, that's fine I can find him on my own." Mark gave her a look before heading into the backyard.

Mark wondered if he had somehow missed Stephanie mentioning this guy but recollecting their recent conversations, he didn't think he had. He also questioned why she looked so damned smug about this stupid boy, he just looked like a horny little twig in pants that didn't fit. Whatever the case may be, Mark vowed to not let this bother him. Stephanie could see whoever she wanted. After all, Mark had already decided that he wasn't going to pursue Stephanie and eventually, he would get over her. Definitely.

As he scanned the backyard his eyes fell back on the gate and he saw the boy put his arm around Stephanie's shoulder and whisper something in her ear. Mark wondered how long he would go to prison for if he were to beat up that kid. The idea of that guy, or any guy, touching Stephanie made him want to punch a god damn wall.

"Mark!" Vince called gleefully from near the pool and motioned for him to come over.

He tried to calm himself down a little bit as he made his way over to Vince. He didn't need to sound like he was ready to snap someone's neck and then have to explain why. _Uh yeah, Vince, I wanna snap that kid's neck because he's too close to your daughter who I definitely do not wanna fuck and have never kissed ever._ Mark chuckled and felt a little more at ease. Mocking himself for the situation he had gotten into was sometimes amusing, at least momentarily.

"Hey there, Vince" Mark gave his boss a firm handshake and a half hug "Great set up you've got back here!"

"It's perfect for a barbecue, isn't it?" Vince nodded, admiring his own backyard.

"It sure is, man" Mark agreed.

"Well, help yourself to a beer! We don't have a bar set up, but there's coolers over there with hopefully enough to last through the night!" Vince chuckled and pointed to the coolers.

"Sounds good!" Mark headed over to the coolers where he thanked God, Will was hanging around. The coolers were also conveniently placed near the buffet table so he figured that was why Will had decided to linger.

It was as he made his way over to get some beer that he noticed how different this barbecue was from the Christmas party. Not only were all the guys there, but their families as well. Everyone was much more tame. They were chatting as kids ran by and jumped into the pool, the guys had beers instead of hard liquor, and people just seemed happier. Which made Mark's current state even worse because he felt he was viable to snap at any moment if he were to see that kid do anything more to Stephanie. If that kid so much as put his hand on her thigh, Mark was sure he'd lunge.

"Hey! You made it here on time all by yourself!"

As Mark reached into the cooler and grabbed out a beer, he was met by his jolly manager, Will standing beside him. Naturally, Will was already eating.

"It's almost like I am capable of gettin' some things right!" Mark joked, cracking open the beer.

"Well, some things" Will motioned his head towards Stephanie and that damned Jeff at the gates "Others you just can't seem to get right."

Mark took a long swig "Who says I want to get that right?"

"So you admit things are wrong right now?"

"Who says things are wrong?" he snapped.

"That right there."

Mark rolled his eyes and kept sipping at his beer, maybe tonight would be a good night to get plastered after all.

* * *

Or maybe not.

As the day progressed and turned into night, Mark had only gone through two beers because he'd often forgotten that he had one. He had mingled a lot, like he said he would. He had talked to someone he didn't usually, like he said he would. But he had also spent the entire party silently cursing Jeff and thinking about how much he wanted Stephanie, just like he said he wouldn't.

Fortunately, he had kept his cool when the kid not only put his arm around her waist, but also kissed her on the cheek. It wasn't until a little after nine o'clock that he saw Jeff kiss Stephanie goodbye near the gates that he couldn't keep his cool any longer.

He cut off Stephanie before she could go back through the gates and into the backyard, getting close to her and whispering "Meet me in the downstairs bathroom." before taking off.

He knew she would oblige, but when he got into the bathroom he realized that he had no idea what he wanted to say. He knew that he hated that Jeff kid and seeing him touch Stephanie pissed him off but if that was his whole argument, he was doomed from the beginning.

As Stephanie made her way to the bathroom she wondered if that had been alcohol on Mark's breath and she wasn't in the mood for another basement encounter 2.0. She didn't want their personal moments to come from Mark getting some liquid courage to do something then returning to his usual, reserved self afterwards. She just wanted him to be straight forward with her.

Several agonizing minutes later, Stephanie slunk into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her.

"What is it, Mark?" she said as she turned around.

"You've got a lot of nerve" was all that Mark managed to say. He didn't even know where he was going to go from there. If Stephanie had simply said 'and?' he would've been screwed.

"I've got a lot of nerve? No, you've got a lot of nerve!" she shot back "Did you ask me to meet you here so you could drunkenly tell me that you didn't want to be with me then kiss me anyway? Then spend the next few months pretending that it never happened until it inevitably happens again?"

"I'm not drunk."

"Okay, so this is a sober confession that you don't want to be with me?"

"No."

"Then what is this?"

"I don't like Jeff. I don't like the way he touches you."

Mark kicked himself for going with that weak argument but he didn't have anything else to say.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Mark realized he was raising his voice.

"Just that, why? Why don't you like the way he touches me because as a friend, it shouldn't really matter to you the way he touches me. It's all done out of affection."

"Please, he's just a horny little kid lookin' for a girl to keep around for the summer!" Mark felt his voice teetering on levels that could be considered yelling.

"And you don't act like a horny little kid? You fuck random women all the time! You don't even keep them around longer than a night let alone the whole summer!" Stephanie was screaming at him now.

"I don't want to keep any of them around for longer than a night!" he insisted, screaming right back

"And why not?"

"Because you're the only one I'd wanna keep around for longer than a night! You're the only one I'd wanna keep around for longer than a week, a month, a year! Don't you get it, Stephanie? Don't you? I'm a sick, pathetic twenty nine year old man who only wants his seventeen year old friend and is incapable of being with anyone else because of that! That's why I don't keep them around for longer than a night! That's why I don't like the way Jeff touches you! Are you blind?"

Stephanie felt tears stinging at her eyes for a multitude of reasons; happiness and frustration being the main two. She wanted this, and she wanted him, but she also wanted the bullshit to end.

"I'm not blind but you can see how I'd think you didn't want me! How could I not think that when I hear stories about you going to strip clubs constantly and fucking random women? Was I supposed to think you were doing that because you wanted to be with me? I mean, how can you stand there and say that you want me around when you keep me at an arms length? You're such an idiot!"

Mark was exhausted. He let out a long sigh as he watched numerous tears slowly slip their way down Stephanie's cheeks. He didn't mean to make her cry. He also certainly didn't mean to tell her all that he had, that was something he even had trouble admitting to himself. But, he had said it and like everything else he said to Stephanie, there was no way of ever getting it back. It was out there: he wanted her. He knew it, and now she knew it too.

"I don't wanna fuck this up, Steph. I don't wanna fuck you up. I don't wanna have this not work out with us then leave us both fucked up. I don't wanna ruin your teenage years and I don't wanna ruin my career. It's easier to just stay friends than to risk hurting you and it's easier to keep you at an arms length and fuck random women than admit that..." Mark paused, fully aware of what he was about to say "...that I wish they were you. That I wish when I said goodnight to them that it was you instead. Being friends and keeping things as they are is a lot less complicated. So, I don't think I'm an idiot, Steph. I think I'm realistic."

"I still think you're an idiot." Stephanie choked out through her tears "I have wanted you for long time, Mark. Then you gave me a taste of what it would be like to have you, not once but twice. You can say that you don't wanna fuck me up, but you already have. I can't even kiss another guy without wishing he was you. So fuck you!"

Mark couldn't help but smile a little as she spat out 'fuck you'. Stephanie had a way of saying everything as though it was an ultimatum. She had declared him and idiot and said 'fuck you' as though this was an unwavering opinion of hers and she had never felt differently. To the average person, it would sound as though she was being harsh but he knew she didn't mean it, it was just the way she argued. She was easy to fire up and being a McMahon, she could come off as just downright mean. But Mark knew differently. He knew the moment she calmed down she would feel awful for yelling, even if she was completely in the right. He knew about her soft interior and how easily hurt she was.

It really wasn't until then that Mark realized that she had known about the strip clubs and the women, but didn't say anything to him. He couldn't imagine how hurt she must have been to learn about that.

"I am an idiot." Mark admitted, as much as he hated to.

Stephanie had tired herself out and she just nodded her head sadly "Such an idiot."

"But that's the only time you're gonna hear me say that." Mark lifted up her chin, forcing her to look at him "Mark my words, little lady. I won't be an idiot anymore."

"You won't be?" Stephanie's eyes sparkled and Mark knew it wasn't because of the tears.

Mark had to take a deep breath before saying what he was about to say. He took a moment to reflect on his career and admired that it had been good, but he was about to risk losing it.

"No, princess" Mark promised her "I didn't plan on ever hurtin' you and seeing that I had...well, I suppose it made me realize that even though we've been just friends, I managed to hurt you. So why not just really fuck things up and let me have a go at not hurtin' you while maybe bein' more than friends?"

"What do you mean more than friends?"

"I don't mean like boyfriend, girlfriend but I do mean being kinda exclusive to each other."

"So, boyfriend, girlfriend?"

"No, not exactly."

"Call it what you want, Mark, but that's what it is."

"Well, in your mind that's what it can be but I'm sayin' it's not. We can be seein' each other without bein' boyfriend, girlfriend."

"I suppose so. But what am I supposed to tell people at college when they ask? Yeah, I'm seeing somebody but no we're not official, I just can't see anyone else."

"Would you even want to see anyone else when you're with me?" Mark smirked, pulling Stephanie close to him.

"So damned cocky." she shook her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Mark just smiled at her. He didn't really know what else to do. Months and months of tension, pretending, and denial to just throw all that away and finally admit the truth. He almost didn't know where to go from there. At least things from this point on would be smooth sailing, right?

Oh, of course not. Mark had almost forgotten his express ticket to hell had been upgraded and now it would be coming around to make his life on Earth a little tougher.


	6. You Don't Drink Wine

**Note:** This chapter has some adult content. At long last! I should be getting chapter 7 up sometime in the beginning of next week. In the meantime, have a Happy Easter and enjoy this chapter!

* * *

After several prolonged kisses, Mark and Stephanie resolved to sneak their way back outside, separately.

He let Stephanie go first and he said it was so he could just collect his thought but really it came from the need to adjust himself after Stephanie had pressed herself against him. She had even pushed her hips against him and he really had wanted to push back to show her what she was doing to him, but then he remembered that they were in the bathroom of her home for a barbecue in which all his coworkers and boss were at. He had to hold onto some kind of self control considering he had just thrown most of it out the window.

Once Mark eventually made his way back outside he mingled about, chatting with Shawn in particular. By this point in the night, a lot of their coworkers had regrouped with their families or were with their wives talking to other guys and their wives. This was something that he and Shawn could relate to: being the non-married guys at every company event. Usually, Mark would look on awkwardly and feel somewhat alone. He assumed Shawn probably felt the same way. It wasn't like being the non-married guys when going out, then it was fun.

This time, however, Mark didn't feel alone. He stole a few glances at Stephanie who shot him quick smiles every time he did and he felt content. That was until Shawn began going on about a recent night out and in an effort to tune him out, Mark ended up listening to an even worse conversation.

He overheard Vince talking to a few other corporate guys, the ones who usually didn't speak to any of the wrestlers. One guy mentioned how Stephanie was going to college and turning eighteen soon and that was all well and good until he heard Vince's last comment on his beloved daughter.

"She says she wants to work for the company after she graduates, so that's great" Vince explained "But I've told her time and time again, I don't want her ever dating a wrestler. I know what most of these guys are like and while I enjoy them, I don't want them anywhere near my little girl."

Mark swallowed. Great.

"But I don't think any of them would be dumb enough to try to cross me and try to get with her." Vince added on.

 _Oh, but someone would be dumb enough. Someone definitely would._ Mark thought to himself.

Shawn kept talking and Mark nodded along to pretend he was listening but all he could think about is what a mess he had gotten himself into. He should be rushing over to Stephanie to take it all back and tell her that they can't ever be together, that his career is more important.

But, he wasn't doing any of that. In fact, he was quite happy despite what he heard Vince say. He had always just assumed Stephanie was off limits and hearing Vince confirm it was a little intimidating, but it wasn't as if Mark was under the impression that his relationship with Stephanie was going to be a public thing that he would announce to Vince. He knew that they would have to keep it a secret.

He stole another glance at Stephanie who winked at him and he knew this girl would be the death of him.

* * *

As the summer progressed, so did Mark and Stephanie's relationship. They chatted like normal backstage and whenever they could, they would find a good secluded spot and give each other a few quick kisses. Unfortunately, for about a month it was never anything more than that, though. They would flirt, kiss, and say goodbye. That was it and the tension grew more and more every time they saw each other. Some days when the sexual tension between them was especially high, Mark imagined pulling her into a back room, saying to hell with his morals, and taking her right there. One day he came really close to doing it too.

Stephanie wasn't any better. She longed for so much more than just the taste of Mark's lips. She was beginning to get more touchy in their secluded moments alone and she knew Mark would endlessly complain about how she can't just grab his dick whenever she felt like after the fact. But in the heat of the moment he only opened his mouth to curse softly under his breath when she would rub her hand over his hardening length through his clothes.

Mark knew they couldn't go on like this for the whole summer. Something had to be done. But, he didn't want to suggest anything she wouldn't feel comfortable with. He didn't want to offer her his second copy of his hotel room key only to have her not be so keen on coming over. Which is why when Stephanie suggested an idea one Saturday night in July, he leapt on it.

"I want us to meet up tonight." she said softly during a lull in their conversation.

"Where?" Mark was a little surprised but incredibly enthused.

"Your hotel room. I want to come spend the night with you."

"Steph, you know I don't wanna to go too, too far just yet." Mark thought for a moment then corrected himself "No, I want to. But we just can't yet."

"I know..." she paused "I wish we could."

"Steph."

"Fine." she rolled her eyes "You and your damned morals."

"Don't like not gettin' what ya want, princess?"

She smirked at Mark "I'll eventually get what I want, so it's fine."

With that, the girl who always had to have to last word casually sauntered away. Mark watched her as she got mixed up in the bustle backstage and smiled, this girl would most definitely be the death of him.

* * *

He slyly handed her his second copy of his hotel room key before the show was over and told her to come around midnight, knowing that she would probably show up late because that's just who she is.

As soon as Mark got back to his hotel room after the show he noted that he had about an hour to get ready for Stephanie to come so he got a movie on, ordered some wine from room service and resolved to get food later after they had their fun.

It was 12:08p.m. when he heard a knock on the door and assumed it wasn't Stephanie because she had a key and would've just barged right in. He looked through the peephole and saw Will standing there. He opened the door for his friend but wouldn't let him past the entryway.

"I just came over to give you the card for the next two weeks, Vince handed it to me and I just didn't catch you before you left tonight." Will handed him a piece of paper.

"Okay, thanks man!"

They stood in an awkward silence for a moment before Will spoke "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, nothin' at all."

Will peered past Mark "Wine? You don't drink wine?"

"I recently started."

"No you didn't."

"Okay, so I just think it looks nice."

"What's going on?"

"Nothin'!"

"Hey Mark." a separate high pitched voice almost whispered from behind Will and Mark looked past his older friend to see Stephanie standing in the doorway with her hair in a ponytail and a backpack slung over her shoulder.

Will turned around and saw Stephanie standing in the doorway "Oh! I'll just be getting out of your way! Sorry!"

The older man shuffled past Stephanie and down the hall as fast as he could. Mark was sure this wasn't the last he'd hear of it but at least he wouldn't have to deal that right now.

"Come in" Mark ushered her in, shutting the door behind her.

Stephanie slowly made her way into the room and looked around. She noted how Mark had made sure everything was perfect. It was neat, there was a movie already on, and she even spied some wine in a small ice bucket on the dresser. She was almost tempted to pinch herself to make sure this wasn't some crazy dream.

"Wow."

"What? Did ya think I wanted to meet up with ya at some dingy motel and have ya in and out?" Mark joked.

"Yeah, wham bam thank ya ma'am." Stephanie mocked his accent and giggled.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that little lady" he helped her take her backpack off and noticed some weight to the bag.

"I told my parents I was going to a friend's house for the night." she explained "But, if you don't want me staying over I can go home afterwards."

"And you say I'm an idiot." Mark wrapped his large arms around her waist "Of course I want ya stayin' over."

She smiled and stood on her tippy-toes to kiss him.

It started as a simple kiss and they both thought that would be it, then they'd both get settled down, drink some wine, watch the movie, and then after that get around to messing around a bit.

But over the course of several very heated minutes, they found themselves in a very different position entirely. Mark was laying on top of Stephanie, refusing to leave her lips and he grinded his hips rhythmically against hers. By this point he had taken off his shirt and she was running her hands up and down his large arms, trying to feel every muscle. He wanted to take off his jeans but wondered if that may be too forward.

Thank goodness for this brash girl. She broke the kiss to lean forward and unbutton his jeans, pulling the zipper down as well. She looked up at him with a devious grin. It was a look that so many women tried to pull off and Mark had dismissed it so many times. But, Stephanie wore it surprisingly well and it made him want more.

"Well?" Mark said.

"Well what?" she was teasing him now.

"Are you just gonna unbutton them or are ya gonna get down to business?"

"And what does getting down to business entail?" she was blushing.

"I think you know" Mark began to gently peck at her neck.

"No, tell me."

He brushed his thumb over her right cheek, noting how she was blushing and it amused him "I want ya to suck my cock, baby."

Her face burned red but she also felt incredibly turned on by the way he spoke. There was the Mark Calaway she knew in everyday life, he was somewhat reserved yet commanded respect. He was every bit a gentleman and very well spoken. But this Mark Calaway was brazen and in control, he knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to ask for it, no matter how crude. It was almost comical how their roles changed in the bedroom.

She forced him to sit up and switched their positions so she was on top. Slowly, she pulled down his jeans, awkwardly getting them off of him before crawling her way back up she straddled him. He held onto her hips as she teased him so cruelly.

"C'mon, baby" Mark urged, he had reached a point where he was throbbing he was so desperate for her to relieve him. "And get those pants off."

She blushed again at his commands but obliged and pull off her pants before running her fingers along the waistband of his underwear. She took a deep breath and pulled them down, revealing his rather large member. She had felt it through his pants a few times and knew it was big but seeing it up close she was a little surprised at how big. She was sure her face gave away how surprised she was and knew Mark's ego must be running wild now.

Stephanie reached out and began to slowly stroke up and down before getting into a rhythm and quickening her speed.

"Fuck." Mark cursed.

It was then that she leaned down, grateful that her hair was in a ponytail, and took a little of him in her mouth, flicking her tongue against the head.

"Oh, fuck" he cursed again.

She took more in her mouth as her bobbing up and down began to fall into a rhythm too and as it did, Mark put his hand on the back of her head, something Stephanie had resented other guys doing but felt oddly more turned on when Mark did it.

It didn't take long until Mark's cursing became more frequent and honestly, he was really surprised that he had lasted that long considering how long he's been dreaming of seeing Stephanie with his dick in her mouth.

"I'm gonna cum, baby" he let her know and she kept going, as Mark grunted and closed his eyes. He thought that he had good orgasms before but nothing like that. He didn't think he'd be able to walk as he came down, breathing heavily.

Stephanie sat up with a smug grin wiped across her face "Good?"

"Baby, that was absolutely incredible." he said through his labored breaths.

"Glad you liked it" she smiled as she flopped down beside him, curling up to his side.

As soon as he had caught his breath and realized that he could in fact feel all his limbs once more, he pulled Stephanie on top of him and began sucking gently on her neck.

"Wow, you want a round two already?" she inquired.

"A round two?" Mark stopped kissing and looked at her confused "No baby, I was thinking round one for you."

"Round one..." Stephanie gave Mark a strange look "...for me?"

"Yeah." Mark looked back at the young woman "I've been wantin' to taste more than your lips."

"You wanna get me off?" Stephanie asked "Is that what you're saying?"

"Of course I am, should I spell it out for ya?"

"No, no. I just...I've never had a guy want to do that for me before."

Mark gave Stephanie a shocked look "Wait, you're never had a guy eat you out before?"

"No, well, Anthony fingered me once but that was for like two minutes then he asked if I came..."

Mark couldn't help but laugh. The idea of that stupid kid fingering her for a minute, thinking that was good enough, then knowing so little about women that he had to ask if she came, was simply hilarious to him. He used to get very irritated by the idea of Stephanie being with any other guy, and while he had to admit the idea of her lips wrapped around another man's cock made him want to punch a wall, he was grateful that he had no competition for pleasing her. He was glad that he would be the first man to give her an orgasm.

"Well baby, now you get to be with a real man and I'm gonna make ya scream." Mark assured her, kissing her once more deeply before flipping her onto the bed "Now, let's get rid of some of these clothes, shall we?"

Stephanie was sure her face was going to permanently be stained a deep shade of red from the incessant blushing this evening.

She sat up as Mark stripped off her shirt and laid a line of kisses that trailed from her neck down to her cleavage. He reached his hands behind her back and unhooked her bra in one fluid motion, to which she was yet again surprised at how different being with Mark was compared to all the inexperienced high school boys she was with in the past.

He let her bra slide off in front of her and he took a moment to admire her breasts. Stephanie had always been a little self conscious about her small breasts but Mark seemed to love them. He took one nipple in his mouth, lighting sucking on it, and his other hand rested on her waist.

She let out several soft moans and he needed to hear more from her. He had only heard her moan a few times and it was simply teasing him. He wanted to hear him screaming his name in pleasure. As he released her nipple he flicked his tongue against it once more before slowly nudging her onto her back. He softly kissed her stomach, knowing she was ticklish there, until he got to her panties. Her panties weren't like what he usually saw, which were almost always apart of some lingerie set. Stephanie's panties were a simple white pair of low cut Calvin Kleins. And he had never felt more turned on.

He hooked his thumbs around the waistband and looked to her for reassurance that this was okay.

"What're you waiting for?" she jokingly snapped, playing up her princess antics.

He smirked and pulled off her panties, flinging them aside. He placed her hands on her thighs, gently spreading her legs. She seemed reluctant at first, but he assumed that it was just because she probably never had a man looking at her in this way and seeing this much of her, and he was right.

He ran his thumb along her slit before parting her lips with another finger, teasing her with his finger only pushed slightly into her and his thumb rubbing lightly over her clit.

She moaned again and bucked her hips.

"Do ya want more, baby?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Yeah, you do? Okay then."

With that he fully inserted his finger and moved his thumb away to make room for his tongue to flick against her clit, gently suckling it while fingering her tortuously slowly.

"You're so wet, baby."

Her moans, increasing in both volume and frequency, spurred him on and he added another finger and pushed them in faster than before. He switched between rubbing her clit with his thumb to grazing his tongue over it again and again.

He noticed her breath quickening and her moans became more drawn out as he kept going. She had grabbed the sheets and Mark kept going at this pace, himself becoming more and more aroused seeing her body react to him.

"Mark" she moaned loudly "Please don't stop."

He knew he couldn't even if he wanted to and he knew she was almost there.

As she finished, she nearly screamed out. A wave of pleasure washed over her and she let herself go completely, not having any regard for self control. Mark felt her constrict around her fingers and he slowly took them out as he felt her body relax.

Stephanie kept her eyes closed, almost in disbelief that a man could make her feel this good. She was already craving more. Beforehand, she felt like she was going to chicken out and close up, too afraid to let Mark see all of her like this. But now she wished they had more time and that she wasn't so damned tired, she really wanted more.

"Wow." she breathed, eyes still shut.

"Wow indeed." Mark was still taking in how beautiful she looked as she came, her whole body exposed to him so he could feast his eyes on her every curve and the way her soft lips parted slightly her moans turned into silenced panting through her orgasm.

Both still naked, Mark laid beside her and pulled her against him. They stayed like that in silence for several minutes with only the sound of the air conditioning buzzing in the background.

"Can we do that again in the morning?" a sleepy Stephanie inquired, her words slurred together as if she was drunk.

"Of course we can, princess. We can do whatever you want."

And sure enough, come morning time, Stephanie woke up extremely early and pestered him to wake up. She demanded a round two and he obliged and she showed how grateful she was by giving him a round two as well. He called room service and they had a nice breakfast together, chatting like usual. Things felt different, but a better different. They both felt closer now.

Before Stephanie left she made Mark promise that they could do this again before she had to leave for college and he agreed.

As she left his hotel room that morning, she headed straight for the elevators, not bothering to look down the hall in the opposite direction. Had she looked, she would've seen a confused Shawn Michaels saying goodbye to the woman he had over the previous night, and wondering who's room Stephanie McMahon had left from.


	7. The Shark And The Nudes

**Note:** Sorry for the delay on this chapter! Easter weekend had me busy and unable to update! Fun story about this chapter, it was going to go a completely different route and I read and reread it and it sounded so...weird and completely unrealistic. So, here's the better (more realistic) version of the chapter and I hope you like it!

* * *

Mark kept his promise and they did meet up in Mark's hotel room again, and again, and again. He told Stephanie she was like an addict and she used the cheesiest line in response, informing him that she was addicted to him. He rolled his eyes, knowing how she loved being over the top, but secretly he loved that she said it.

Each time Stephanie came to his hotel room, it got harder and harder to not go beyond a certain point. Mark was so desperate to have her, but he also wanted to keep a few morals in tact, perhaps as leverage for a cozier part of hell.

Will had encountered Stephanie showing up twice and after the second time he asked Mark what was going on.

"Mark," Will paced back and forth in Mark's hotel room after Stephanie had left earlier that August morning "What the hell are you doing man?"

Mark thought for a moment "I wish I could tell you, but I don't really know. Steph and I are sorta seein' each other."

"Sorta?"

"Yeah, sorta."

"Are you sorta fucking her too?"

"I'm not fuckin' her! Steph and I haven't slept together, well, not literally at least. Clearly we have fallen asleep together."

"Regardless, you're getting in deep."

"Gettin'? Will, man, I've been in too deep from the moment I kissed that girl. The kiss was too much so having her lie to her parents, come to my hotel room at midnight, and mess around with me, well that's not just off the deep end, I'm swimming in deep, shark infested water and for some reason I think I'm in a shark cage, but I'm not. I'm just out in open water flailing around like a god damned idiot."

Mark wanted Will to know that he was fully aware of what a complete moron he was, not that he cared or planned on doing anything about it, he just needed his best male friend to know that he was living in reality.

"At least you know you're an idiot." Will shook his head and started towards the door "Just don't drown."

Mark was doing a pretty good job of not drowning until one day, he felt himself being pulled down into deeper water by a shark and was forced to throw another diver at the shark to get out.

It was the second weekend of August 1994 and Stephanie was leaving for college in just a few days. They had only one more hotel meet up planned before she left and Mark was just trying to not think about it.

He didn't have any problem admitting that he cared about Stephanie, but he just didn't want her college days to start. He didn't want to have her gone for months on end, he didn't want their interaction to be limited to brief phone calls, and above all else, he didn't want her to be away from him for so long that she found someone else. Someone she liked more. Someone her own age, going through the same things as her, someone she could be with more, someone better than him. He hated thinking about that and it put him in a cross mood for hours when he gave it any attention.

So, when he woke up that morning and realized that Stephanie was leaving in 4 days and 3 days from now would be their last night together for over a month, he wasn't really a man anyone wanted to talk to.

Of course that was destined to be the morning when Shawn, alongside two other men he didn't really care for, Kevin and Scott, decided to knock on his door and ask if he wanted to join them for breakfast.

Put on the spot, he agreed and as soon as they said they'd meet him downstairs at the hotel restaurant in fifteen minutes, he regretted agreeing to it. Realizing that they meant an actual sit down breakfast where he would have to speak to them in a way that didn't scream 'I think you're all dickheads' did not sit well with Mark, especially not that particular morning.

But, he had already said yes so he decided to suck it up and get it over with.

When he met them downstairs they had already gotten a table and basically screamed his name across the restaurant to get his attention. He apologized to the hostess about them as he made his way over to their table.

All was fine and well at first, they chatted about the upcoming show, ordered their breakfast, stirred their coffees, and exchanged pleasantries. Which was all great until Shawn spoke up.

"Mark, can I ask you a question?" Shawn asked, sipping at his coffee.

"Shoot." Mark replied, setting his down.

Nothing good has ever began with 'can I ask you a question?' Much like 'don't be offended' and all the greats like that, Shawn was setting himself up for a not nice response and Mark was armed and ready to snap at the man until he heard the question.

"Do you know who stayed in the rooms around you a few weeks back?" Shawn asked.

"What?" Mark was confused. What kind of a question was that? What was this guy getting at?

"It's just that..." Shawn looked around and lowered his voice "A few weeks back, I saw Stephanie, you know McMahon's daughter, leaving a room in the morning. I'm not sure who's room it was though and I thought you might know."

Mark didn't know what to say. Shawn, and clearly Kevin and Scott too because there was no doubt that Shawn told them immediately, all thought he was such a good person that Stephanie leaving from _his_ hotel room was so out of the question they decided to ask him who was staying around his room. It almost erased his angry mood from earlier and made him want to chuckle. Almost.

"Well, I dunno. Lemme' think about it" Mark leaned back in his seat and stared off, pretending to think of who stayed near him.

He only knew of one person who had stayed around him recently, Randy Poffo. Good ole' Macho Man, good ole' hit on Stephanie while drunk, sad, and lonely at a Christmas party Macho Man, good ole' tried to talk to her again at the barbecue until she got out of dodge Macho Man. He didn't hate Randy and he didn't want to start throwing other men under the bus. But, he also wasn't about to throw himself under the bus. He may be an idiot, but he wasn't feeling suicidal.

Mark hated lying, but he knew if he didn't say anything, they'd keep digging and they'd keep asking until somehow they would figure it out: Stephanie left from his hotel room. And they'd run to Vince as fast as they could. He could see his career dying, the official pink slip in the mail after he would surely be suspended, Stephanie would be cut off from him, and then Stephanie's relationship with her father would be forever strained over her lying to him. It really wasn't a difficult choice and as much as he didn't want to do this, it didn't hurt to say as much as he thought it would.

"The only one I can think of is Randy." Mark shook his head "God, he was hitting on Stephanie at the Christmas party last year. I should've seen it coming."

"He was?" Shawn was shocked but also fully believed it.

"Yeah, I just chalked it up to him being lonely after his divorce. That and drunk. But I never expected this." Mark kept shaking his head in disappointment over his half-fake Randy story "What should we do?"

Mark knew the only way to completely alleviate this situation would be to subtly push Shawn and his minions to spill the beans about it. He knew Vince would be mad, but Stephanie was good at lying to them and she would come up with a good story to explain herself. Their relationship wouldn't be damaged beyond repair, unlike if Vince found out about Mark and Stephanie because Mark wouldn't be able to deny it the same way Stephanie (and certainly now Randy) would be able to. He would feel guilty and he knew he'd end up telling Vince everything. A quick sad, pathetic betrayal from Randy would seem a lot less worse than a drawn out betrayal by someone Vince liked a lot.

"Well, I think it's obvious." Shawn looked at all the guys "We gotta tell Vince!"

"Tell Vince?" Kevin was a bit surprised "That'll get Randy fired."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Shawn asked.

Kevin smirked a bit and shrugged his shoulders.

Mark understood now. They were looking to get someone out of the way to get them ahead. With Randy gone there would be even fewer big names to contend with and another slot would be open for one of them to make the push into the full time main event picture. They didn't care about Stephanie getting with a wrestler, they just wanted a guy they could get rid of. Less competition.

The rest of the breakfast went smoothly and the pleasantries continued. Mark responded to questions they asked, which were about innocent topics and not who's hotel room Stephanie was leaving from, but he wasn't there anymore. He had checked out of that conversation and was thinking about the cutthroat nature of the business and of these guys. It was probably for the best that he had this reminder, perhaps he and Stephanie had been getting too careless. He would be sure that wouldn't happen again. He wasn't going to fed to Vince by a shark like Shawn.

* * *

A few days passed by and Vince hadn't killed Randy yet, so Mark assumed that Shawn hadn't told Vince yet. Mark had mentioned it to Stephanie at a show and she said that she assumed at some point something like this would happen, and that Randy had become a creep since his divorce. They didn't speak after that, though, until she came over to Mark's hotel the night before she was leaving for Boston to go to college.

Mark decided that staying at a nice hotel would be safer considering Shawn and the gang would never spend that kind of money on a hotel room that was just going to be ridden with hookers, booze, and pills in a matter of hours.

But Mark wanted this night to be special. He knew he was turning into such a sap. Will even told him that.

Earlier that night once the two men got into the rental car, Mark told Will that he would pick him up in the morning because Mark wasn't staying at the same hotel as Will. When Will asked which hotel Mark was staying at instead, Mark begrudging revealed the five star hotel to his friend.

"Wow." Will was surprised "How much did that cost ya?"

"Five hundred a night." Mark muttered.

"So is tonight the night you bang Stephanie then?"

"I get a nice room and automatically Stephanie has to be involved?"

"The better question is why would you get a nice room _without_ Stephanie being involved?" Will shot back.

"Fair enough." Mark paused "But we're not gonna sleep together. I just...never mind."

"Never mind, what?"

"I just," Mark knew how he was about to sound "I want this night to special because Steph's leaving for Boston in the morning."

"Oh." was all that Will replied with.

The truth was, Will didn't know what to tell his idiot friend. He didn't even fully understand Mark and Stephanie's relationship. All he knew was that Mark was head over heels for this girl and from the way that he saw Stephanie look at him, it appeared to be mutual. Despite Mark's constant insistence that he was a blithering idiot for continuing with this and that he was going to hell, Will knew Mark wouldn't stop seeing her. She was everything he's ever said he wanted in a woman.

When they got to Will's hotel, he grabbed his suitcase out of the trunk then came back around to the passenger side "Hey, Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think Satan will accept you into hell."

Mark chuckled "And why's that?"

"I don't think Satan lets people into hell just for being in love with someone they think they shouldn't be."

Mark wanted to protest but Will shut the door and strutted off into his hotel. On his drive to his own hotel, Mark thought about what Will said. He didn't love Stephanie. He really liked her, yes, he cared about her, yes, he didn't want to be with anyone else, yes, he couldn't imagine losing her, yes. But that didn't add up to love, did it? Mark sensed that this was going to turn out just like his denial of Stephanie in the first place, but perhaps not as dramatically.

So, maybe he more than liked her. Maybe he really, really liked her. Great, now he sounded like a little kid trying to describe how much he was into his crush. He was hopeless. Irrespective of that, he still refused to be hopelessly in love. Nope, he didn't love Stephanie McMahon.

Maybe Will was right about one thing, maybe he wasn't destined for hell because it seemed like by God's good grace he was informed that he had an option between his room or upgrading to several different options because the hotel apparently wasn't very full. One of those options was the honeymoon suite and Mark hopped on that idea almost as soon as the women finished saying it. It would be perfect.

He mentally noted what a sap he was, yet again. He had gotten so caught up in how nice a night they were going to have that he forgot why this night was happening in the first place.

* * *

It was almost as soon as he had checked into the room that he had to go back down and wait in the lobby for Stephanie to arrive. When she finally did, at 12:16a.m., Mark turned and walked towards the elevators, trying to draw as little attention to them as possible. Once they got onto the elevator, Stephanie grabbed Mark's hand and held it tightly. It was then that Mark remembered why this night was happening: because Stephanie was leaving tomorrow.

He glanced at her and she looked up at him, her eyes looked glazed over and he knew she was holding back tears. She was so quick to cry and ever eager to express her emotions. Mark loved that about her but hated it right now because it broke his heart. He didn't want to see this girl go. He didn't want to go months without seeing her. Phone conversations weren't the same as having her fall asleep in his arms and god damnit, he didn't love her. Nope. He just would miss her is all.

As soon as they got into Mark's room and the door clicked shut, Stephanie dropped her backpack on the ground. She didn't even make eye contact with Mark as she went and sat on the bed.

"Have you ever been excited for something but also ridiculously sad for it at the same time?" she asked him.

Mark sighed and sat beside her "I can't say that I have, princess."

"I've been excited for college for years, literally, years. I think I got into high school and on the first day was wondering when it would end and college would begin. And now," she shrugged her shoulders "it's here. College is here. I can almost touch it, it's so close. But, I don't want it. I want it to be pushed back. I feel like I need more time but I know that even if more time were to pass I still wouldn't want to leave."

"Baby," Mark put his arm around her, trying to be strong for her even though he didn't want her to go "It's normal to feel like you're gonna be homesick at first. And sure, you'll miss home for awhile but soon you'll love college."

It took a lot for Mark to somehow put those words together and spit them out. He didn't want to think about it for what he knew to be selfish reasons.

"Homesick?" she turned and looked at him "Mark, I'm not gonna be homesick. I'm not gonna miss my parents or my brother. I barely see them anyway. You're such an idiot sometimes! I'm gonna miss you! You, you big buffoon!"

"I'm gonna miss you too, Steph."

"No, you don't understand, Mark. I feel like I'm going to go to college and when I go, I'm gonna leave a part of me behind. Who am I gonna give a look to and have them know exactly what I'm thinking? Who's gonna be there to call me out on the things I do? Who could possibly understand my love of wrestling the way you do?" Stephanie had tears steadily dripping down her cheeks now "Who's gonna know me like you do?"

Mark had no idea what to say. He agreed with everything she said and he wanted to say 'nobody' but that wouldn't cheer her up. Over the past few weeks he had thought of all the things he wanted to say to her, all the romantic things he wanted to do to show her that he cared and maybe keep her from pursuing any other guy while at college. But all of that was lost now as she cried over things he felt too. Will was a great guy and he called him his best friend, but really, Stephanie was his best friend. She's the person he shared every part of himself with. She knew things beyond his favorite football team and his middle name, she knew all the little things. She knows the look he gives when he disapproves of something but doesn't want to say anything, she knows where to touch him to make him feel more at ease, she knows all his guilty pleasures like his love of Snickers and the movie Gone with the Wind.

Nothing he could say would make this any better and he knew it.

"Baby, I'll just be a phone call away." Mark tried to reassure her, wiping a tear away from her red cheek.

"It's not the same." she whimpered.

"I know it, but at least it's something. Phone calls and you visiting every couple months. It's something that will..." Mark thought about how to word this to not make himself sound like a needy sap "...get us through."

"Get us through?"

"Get us through this time of you bein' away."

"You know I'll be in college for four years, right?"

"I know."

Stephanie knew better than to expect Mark to come right out and say what he was feeling. She should've seen the signs earlier and maybe it wouldn't have taken him until June to completely lose his shit and dramatically admit his feelings. But, she's learned even more about him this summer and one thing she picked up is that he's old school. He doesn't come out and say things point blank the way she does. So, she knew when Mark said that phone calls and short visits would be enough to get them through, what he meant to say was that he was going to stick by her through these years. He wasn't about to leave this behind just because she was going to college, which had been her main fear. She was worried that he would want to end things or take a break since she would be away for so long and only see him on holidays and during the summer. She _was_ worried.

Her face brightened a little and she smiled in spite of a few tears still spilling out of her red eyes "Mark, I-"

He leaned in a kissed her, cutting her off. He knew what she was about to say and he didn't want to hear it yet. He didn't want her to say it until he knew he could say it back to her.

Eventually, he broke off the kiss and pulled her farther up on the bed, he got her settled underneath the covers and went to her bag to find her pajamas. Tonight would've been a nice night for a blowjob and yes, it would've been a nice night for him to eat her out and listen to her sweet moans. But, it was an even better night for watching a movie together and just laying in bed, enjoying each other's company. He handed her her pajamas and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek.

"Mark, you didn't let me finish. I-"

"I know."

She smiled at him.

He smiled back.

And their night was filled with quick glances, laughter, snacking, and of course, rewinding the movie after getting too caught up in exploring one another's mouths. They kept their clothes on and to the casual observer, it would seem like a very tame night. But to them it felt so intimate. More so than anything either had ever experienced.

When they settled down for bed, Mark held her close and stayed awake long after her heard Stephanie's breath fall into a slow, steady rhythm, signaling that she had fallen asleep. It was then that his own breath began to steady itself as well as he felt himself drifting off to sleep. The last thing he could remember before he fell asleep was how he wanted to fall asleep with Stephanie every night.

* * *

Saying goodbye to Stephanie in the morning was a lot easier than Mark ever thought it would be. Perhaps it was due to their night before when they had somehow managed to confess a great deal to one another without saying anything. At the very least, Mark knew they would be fine and that was all that mattered.

He wished her good luck and told her to call his house phone to leave a message with the number he could reach her at in Boston. He knew he would probably end up using that number more than he would ever care to admit.

She told him that she'd probably call as soon as her parents left and that she would watch RAW every Monday to see his face and handed him an envelope and told him that since she could see his face every week, he might as well be able to see hers. She winked and that was it, just like that she was gone and Mark would have to wait a month before seeing her. It dawned on him that the next time he saw her she would be eighteen and he could finally, morally, sleep with her.

When he sat down on the edge of the bed, he opened the envelope Stephanie had given him which was filled with pictures of her, nude. She had given him an array of nude pictures and he didn't know if he could wait a month.

* * *

The next day when Mark showed up at the arena he found out that Vince had told Randy he wouldn't be renewing his contract. Apparently, Vince had found out that morning that Randy had tried to sleep with Stephanie but she turned him down. There wasn't a huge blowout and Vince didn't try to murder Randy. It occurred to Mark that the story Vince heard wasn't the same story that he had put in Shawn's head which made him suspicious.

On his way to the locker room he saw Kevin and Scott with their wives chatting and they both said 'hi' to him as he passed by. When he got into the locker room he made eye contact with Shawn who was sitting alone in the corner. Normally in the company of his friends, he couldn't help but notice how lonely Shawn looked without them. It was the same look he had at the barbecue when Kevin and Scott were off with their wives. He nodded at Shawn who nodded back.

He couldn't help but wonder if Shawn changed the story because he felt bad for Randy because Randy was just as lonely as Shawn was. It was easier to think of Shawn as the asshole kid who had politicked his way into his current position backstage rather than earned it through hard work and dedication.

But, when he looked at Shawn again and saw all the people chatting around him as he sat quietly, alone. He just couldn't see that asshole kid.

Will interrupted his thoughts when he appeared in front of him, offering him a smile. He hadn't seen him in days as Will got a ride with someone else after Mark's stay in a different hotel.

"How're you?" Will asked.

Will was a great friend, and definitely his best male friend. But with his true best friend gone he felt incomplete and weird and he was such a sap, he couldn't even see Shawn as an asshole anymore when it was usually so easy for anyone with eyes to see it and resent the Heartbreak Kid for it. He cursed Stephanie for it.

"She's gone." Mark sighed "But she'll be back."

"When?"

"In a month, for her birthday weekend."

"That's not so long."

"No, no it's not. Especially when I'll be calling her and," Mark stood up and paused, lowering himself to whisper into Will's ear "I've got some great nudes she took. So, I think I'll survive."

Will was so surprised and Mark didn't give him time to respond as he adjusted himself and strutted out of the locker room. Sure, Stephanie may have turned him into a sap, but in possession of her nudes he felt as manly as ever. Despite the fact that him not being able to do anything but jerk off, made him as desperate as ever, he would persevere.

September 24th just seemed so far away.


	8. X Marks The Date

**Note:** This is a little bit of a shorter chapter but it contains what we've all been waiting for! The next chapter should be out soon because I know exactly the direction I want to take it in. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

* * *

It had been exactly twenty eight days since Stephanie left and Mark knew this because he was counting. On his little planner that he kept in his bag, there was a small x on September 24th to mark the date when she would be back for her eighteenth birthday. He had almost drawn a heart then cringed at how much of a sap he had become and thought against it. Still, when Will noticed the x he questioned it and Mark said that it was a show date.

"Then why are none of the other show dates marked with an x?" Will raised his eyebrow.

"Because I'm a horrible liar." Mark smirked.

He didn't feel as embarrassed talking to Will about his relationship with Stephanie anymore and anytime Will asked about it, Mark replied casually as if this was something Will had been asking about for years. In his mind it was akin to the 'how're the wife and kids?' inquiry. That scared Mark a little that he was that comfortable with it this quickly.

"What is it then?" Will asked.

"Steph's birthday."

"Her eighteenth?"

"Yup." Mark replied nonchalantly as he laced up a boot.

They always kept their voices lowered and this conversations discrete when Stephanie was brought up, Will knew how private Mark wanted to keep it and understood why. If anyone looking to climb the ladder found out about this then it would be a hop, skip, and a jump to Vince's office to inform him of what an awful employee his favorite employee actually was.

"So..." Will trailed off "What does that mean?"

"It means she's turnin' eighteen." Mark stood up, grabbing his hat. He knew what Will was trying to ask. "Oh, and it also means I'm going to fuck her all night. Now get moving."

With that, Mark left the locker room and headed to the curtains.

It was two weeks ago that Stephanie had asked Mark if they were going to sleep together once she turned eighteen and Mark felt like an eager teenager telling her that yes, of course they would and then going into detail about how he has wanted to for awhile now. His only saving grace was that he only said awhile and left out that he had been jerking off to thoughts of her for well over a year now.

Since then, Stephanie had created a game of sorts that Mark thought was so twisted. On the phone she would go into detail of what she wanted to do with him, the stuff of his fantasies. Then just as he thought he was going to lose it, she giggled, said goodbye, and left Mark laying in his hotel bed with a hard on and only his hand to pleasure himself with, no Stephanie McMahon in sight.

But, Mark would be lying if he said it was all fun calls and borderline phone sex. There were nights he called and she picked up crying about how much she missed him and home. Some of the hardest nights for Mark to deal with were when he called and she didn't pick up because she had fallen asleep. On those nights he really just missed the sound of her overexcited voice rambling on about what she did that day. It was easy to not think about her when he was wrestling or out with his buddies, but when it was just him in his hotel room late at night he felt so alone without having spoken to her. He wondered if that was how Shawn felt but without somebody to miss.

Somehow, the month and two weeks had passed and Mark had made it through what he assumed would be the hardest time during Stephanie's college years, something he would be wrong about. Now, it was the morning of the 24th and Stephanie would be getting in later that night. They had the whole weekend together. She wasn't telling her dad that she was coming back for her birthday because she thought that it would be easier this way, something she would be wrong about.

That night he got ready as usual, wrestled as usual, spoke to guys in the locker room as usual, and left as usual. He tried to act as normal as possible considering he was about to become Vince's worst employee of all time and sleep with his daughter. As he drove back to the hotel Stephanie was supposed to meet him at, he thought about what an awful cliche this way. His forbidden romance with the boss's daughter. What had his life become? In fairness, he tried to reason, Stephanie wasn't a horrible cliche. She wasn't this innocent little wallflower nor was she some angsty rebellious teen trying to get back at her father. Stephanie was far from that. She was intense in all that she did and felt very passionate about anything and everything. She played the innocent daughter act for her father but recognized that it was just an act that she didn't carry over to her actual personality.

Mark certainly didn't think that taking Stephanie's virginity would be like an older man claiming an innocent young girl's womanhood. He knew it would be like making love and not some weird fetish. As his mind slowly paced through the varying reasons why he clearly loved this girl but refused to fully admit it, he walked into the hotel lobby and was taken out of his thoughts after being shoved into.

"Watch where you're going!" the young woman smirked and headed towards the elevators, dragging an oversized suitcase behind her.

Oh, how he had missed Stephanie McMahon.

* * *

As soon as she dropped her suitcase handle in Mark's hotel room, Stephanie lunged forward and into Mark's arms. He held her tightly, maybe too tightly, but he missed her and he missed this. It wasn't something he had ever experienced before: missing someone this much.

"Hey, princess" Mark muttered against her hair.

"Hey, you big idiot" Stephanie joked, reaching her arms up to cup his face "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." Mark wanted to say more and he thought he had in fact a lot to say. But, with her here, he couldn't think of what any of it was. It seemed kind of irrelevant as he ran his fingers through her soft hair. Every time he had noted something he wanted to tell her in person seemed to slip from his mind and he could only think about how much he wanted her.

He thought about how desperate he had been a year ago to have her when he was struggling with how wrong he thought it all was, he thought about how far he might have gone had Will not interrupted them at the Christmas party, but more than anything, he thought about all the nights she left him wanting more and he couldn't wait another second.

"Mark, I-"

He leaned down and kissed her. This time he actually hadn't meant to cut her off and stop her from saying that L word that he felt but wasn't sure he could say back yet. She completely forgot what she was going to say in a matter of moments as Mark deepened the kiss and picked her up. He walked over to the bed and only broke off the kiss to lay her down.

"We can talk later, baby" Mark assured her, pulling off his shirt.

He slowly leaned over top of her and left small kisses, starting at her lips and leading all the way down to her waist where he slowly lifted her shirt up and over her head. He took a moment to admire her body and her beautiful, soft skin.

"Come here" Stephanie demanded and pulled him down on top of her.

Her kisses were much more desperate than his. She was eager and unwilling to go his slow, sensual route. She wanted to go ahead and get what she knew would be painful out of the way so she could start to enjoy herself at some point this weekend.

Mark reached behind her back and unhooked her bra, tugging the straps down her arms and revealing her breasts to him. He pulled away from her mouth but only to move to flick his tongue over her nipple before sucking it deeply. She moaned loudly and grabbed his head, holding it there, never wanting him to stop. And he only stopped to move onto his other nipple, smirking at her before proceeding. She would usually roll her eyes at this apparent ego booster but she was too caught up in pleasure to bother.

When he abandoned her nipple to kiss down her stomach, she was disappointed at first until he slide down her jeans and panties in one fluid motion. She felt for a moment as if she should be doing something to him, anything. But as his tongue flicked at her clit and he pushed one finger inside her, her arms felt numb and she couldnt move them. All she could do was moan and writhe beneath him as he tortured her with his slow and drawn out motions, designed to tease her. He would quicken his motions only to ease off as her moans increased, edging her close but never letting her take that plunge.

"P-Please, Mark" she begged.

"Please what?"

"Please don't stop. Please let me finish." she whimpered.

He smirked and if Stephanie had seen, she would've smacked him. He only wanted to hear her beg him to let her cum. But, he obliged and added another finger, pushing into her tightness faster than before and gently suckling on her nub which had become incredibly sensitive. He heard her moans quicken, mixed in with whimpers, and his name. She almost screamed as she was overcome by the intense sensations. Mark rested his hands on her hips, waiting for her breathing to even out as she came down and back to reality.

When she finally did, Mark slipped off his pants and underwear, taking this opportunity to grab a condom from his bag and roll it on before once again leaning over top of her and parting her legs with his knee. He was already hard and was just waiting for her to be ready.

As she opened her eyes and noticed Mark on top of her, fully naked with his leg bent resting between her parted legs, she realized what they were about to do and while she was looking forward to this, she was overcome with nerves. Mark could see it on her face.

He ran his hand down her cheek "It'll only hurt for a second, baby. I promise. Then it'll feel amazing."

She nodded and bit her lip. Mark kept his eyes on her face, knowing how expressive she was he could tell what she was feeling just by looking at her. He took one hand to guide himself against her, gently pushing forward but stopping before continuing as she looked scared.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Steph?" he asked her.

She nodded again "Of course I am. I'm just worried about the pain."

He kissed her forward "I'll be gentle, baby."

With that, he pushed forward and she winced. Even with just the tip in, he was stretching her in a way that she had never experienced before her fears were confirmed, it did hurt. She whimpered softly and Mark kept moving his hips further and pushed fully into her, eliciting a soft yelp from the younger woman.

He didn't move for several minutes, allowing Stephanie to calm down and adjust to his size. She would let him know when she was ready and until then he softly kissed her neck and whispered that he was sorry, trying to soothe her.

After a few more moments she tilted his chin upwards and kissed him softly. Even in their first time together, Mark noted how they didn't need to always speak to convey something. They knew by look and action.

Mark deepened the kiss and began to steadily move his hips. His motions were slow and rhythmic at first, very tame. Stephanie observed his actions and as she got more comfortable she began to arch her hips to meet his thrusts. He became erratic, desperate to be as deep into this beautiful woman as he possibly could and Stephanie wanted all of him in her just as much.

He lifted her legs so they pressed against her chest every time he thrust and Stephanie felt herself getting closer to the edge as he hit a spot each time he attempted to delve deeper into her. He heard her moaning get louder.

"Mark, I'm-" she whimpered.

"Come for me, baby."

Almost on command she felt herself falling over the edge at her climax and she shut her eyes tightly, this time screaming letting the pleasure completely overcome her and after several seconds, she realized that he was still pushing into her now highly sensitive tightness. Expecting herself to well be well spent, she was surprised at how intense the sensations she felt were each time he nearly pulled all the way out with just the tip still in before pushing back into her.

Mark felt his own climax coming and he quickened his pace, his eyes not leaving her face as she continuing to cry out in pleasure. Just as soon as he had anticipated it, he shut his eyes, free falling into a world of pleasure with her parted lips moaning his name being his last thought.

He was still breathing heavily when he opened his eyes and was met by Stephanie's smiling face. He smiled back, different than his usual smile, this one said more than the others did. Stephanie could read it the way she always read his emotions. She was content in knowing he felt the same.

* * *

Later that night after Mark had kissed her and made sure she was okay and not too sore about fifty times, they were settled down watching an old Western on TV when a commercial came on and Stephanie finally came out of the trance she'd been in. She sat up and reached for the popcorn, receiving a smile from Mark for no apparent reason.

"So, was it everythin' you thought it would be?" Mark asked.

"Oh my gosh, yes!" Stephanie exclaimed "I didn't expect to finish twice!"

Mark smirked, happy to hear her over the top excited voice.

"I missed you a lot when you were gone. I almost can't believe that you're here." Mark studied her face, trying to take it all in. He knew the next few days would go by quickly and soon she would be gone again.

"But, I'm here now." Stephanie reassured him, doing the same thing he was and trying to take it all in "And I'll miss you even more when I have to leave again."

"I wish you didn't have to leave."

"I wish I could stay in your arms forever."

Mark wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him "Me too, princess."


	9. Shawn Michaels: Suspicious Asshole

**Note:** I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter! I've been studying/taking finals for uni for the past couple weeks and haven't had time to update. But with summer on the horizon I'll have much more time to update now. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The next few days were amazing and each time got better and better. They tried different positions together and Stephanie lost track of how many times she came. In between all the sex, they talked just as they always had. Stephanie went on about this movie theatre nearby her campus and how much Mark would hate how artsy it was, but love the movies they played. He tried to tell her about what the WWF had been up to in the last month but she stopped him to admit that she watched every Monday night and Saturday morning in hopes of seeing him. It was felt just like their conversations backstage but better and they both never wanted it to end.

So, when Sunday came and Stephanie spotted the taxi waiting outside for her, the both felt heartbroken and torn apart all over again. Mark wondered if it would be like this every time she left. He realized that he was something akin to a lovesick puppy when it came to Stephanie.

"I'll miss you." Stephanie said with tears forming in her eyes.

"I'll miss you too." Mark pulled her close to him. He wanted to say more, but again he found himself at a loss for words.

"Will you call me tonight?" Stephanie asked, trying not to cry.

"Of course I will. You know I will. I always do." Mark reassured her as she slowly moved out of his embrace and reached for the handle of her suitcase.

"Bye Mark, I-"

"I know." Mark interrupted her "It's mutual, princess."

She smiled at him before leaving, her eyes not leaving his until she couldn't see him anymore. Then, just like before, all at once she missed him so much and cursed herself for ever speaking to him because if she hadn't, she wouldn't be feeling this way right now. Mark sat in his hotel room, thinking the exact same thing.

* * *

It was two weeks later when he called Stephanie and got the news that she was going on a school sponsored trip with a small group of others in her major over Thanksgiving break. Mark tried to pretend that he was excited on the phone and he was happy for her, but for his own selfish reasons, he wished she wasn't going. This meant that it would still be another two and a half months until he saw her. It felt like a lifetime away.

Another few days passed by, then a few weeks, then over a month had gone by and it was the middle of November. Mark knew he would miss Stephanie and that this would be hard, but he didn't think it'd be this hard. He didn't think it would become difficult to say goodbye to her on the phone or that she would pop into his head before a match when he was normally focused.

It was November 18th and he had just gotten off the phone with Stephanie. He was going through his usual post-phone call routine of hosting his own pity party as he lay alone in his hotel room, watching an old movie, when he heard a knock at his door.

More like a fist violently pounding against it.

He jolted up and darted to the door, flinging it open to find his favorite people standing in front of him: The Kliq. Complete with all four members this evening and Mark was filled with instant regret that he didn't check to see who it was through the peephole first.

"Mark!" Shawn exclaimed with a stupid grin smeared across his face.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Mark was hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"We were gonna head over to this new club in town, wonderin' if you wanted to join us?" Shawn asked.

Mark knew that Shawn was talking about the new strip club in town. For years, it was common knowledge that Mark Calaway loved strip clubs and frequented them several times a week. But, over the last few months he hadn't been going out to them. It wasn't that he was actively avoiding them, it was just that over the summer Stephanie had consumed his free nights with her blowjobs from heaven and immense knowledge about obscure things. He didn't feel like he was missing out on anything. And since she's been at school he's just spent his free nights talking to her on the phone or thinking about her or too involved in his pity party. Regardless, he considered himself busy. Too busy to go out to a strip club. Who else would throw him a pity party if he didn't?

Now here he was with The Kliq standing in his doorway, asking him to go to a strip club with them. He knew he wouldn't exactly love the company, but it was always a nice distraction to watch the girls dance and right now, with a month and a half to go until Stephanie got back, he could really use a distraction.

"Yeah, I would. Not into bringin' one back though." Mark wanted to make that abundantly clear before these guys got fucked up on their pills and tried to drag him into a scheme to get a girl to fuck them all.

"Oh, neither are we!" Shawn insisted upon.

Maybe Shawn wasn't, that Mark could believe. Shawn had enough ring rats after him that he wouldn't need to bring a stripper home. He had his doubts about the other guys, though. Especially Sean.

"Okay, fine. Let me grab my wallet." Mark agreed.

He wasn't really sure why he had agreed. What was he supposed to gain from going to a strip club? And going to a strip club with people he didn't really like at that? Maybe it was the distraction he craved. A distraction from the constant voice in his head that reminded him that sure, Stephanie would be home in a month and a half, but this countdown would be apart of his life for the next several years. He would spend months waiting for her to come home for a short while, only to leave once again. He felt pathetic.

* * *

The club looked nice on the outside, he had to give it that. As they pulled up he noted that they weren't even in a sketchy area of town which was strange.

"Is this some kinda classy place?" Sean piped up as they got out of the van "Because I'm not dressed or ready for classy."

Mark rolled his eyes, thinking how Sean was never ready for classy. As if him putting on something decent would change that.

"No, it's just a regular club, they just pretend it's nice" Kevin reassured him as he lumbered his way to the main entrance.

Once they got in and took a seat right up alongside the main stage, Shawn offered to get them all drinks. It was the first thing that night that made Mark suspicious. Shawn never seemed like the kind of guy to get other people drinks, let alone the guys in a group where he was clearly the leader.

That was the difference between Shawn's friends and Mark's friends: Shawn was the leader amongst his friends and that was clear as day to anyone who had even heard of their little group. But even though he was like a locker room leader, Mark wasn't the leader amongst his buddies. They'd rag on him the same way they did everyone else and he sure as hell wasn't going to get drinks brought to him by them. In fact, if he asked they'd probably just laugh and tell him to go fuck himself.

As soon as Shawn had headed off to the bar, Kevin handed both Scott and Sean a small baggie filled with tiny white pills which they excitedly took a few before returning the baggie.

"Ya want some?" Kevin leaned forward to ask Mark.

"Nah. I'm good." Mark didn't even bother looking in Kevin's direction.

The announcer came on and introduced the first dancer of the night, her name was Chastity. How ironic. As she came out, Mark didn't notice the tassel's covering her nipples or her too tiny g-string. He noticed her long brown hair, the same color as Stephanie's. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

About an hour had passed by and Mark felt nothing. Usually, he spent the duration of his time at a club rocking a semi until he picked one he wanted a private dance from. But this time he didn't even feel remotely turned on and only the girl with long brown hair the same as Stephanie's looked remotely attractive to him. He wished Will was here so he could explain this to someone and maybe gains some insight on it. But, he quickly rethought that idea because he could already hear Will saying 'you love her. That's why.' and Mark just wasn't ready to tackle that yet. He spent an embarrassing number of hours trying to not think about that exact topic. The idea of him loving Stephanie was a bit scary, it meant he was vulnerable to her. It meant that he would do anything for her and that someday, that would probably result in him losing his job for her. And whether he actually felt it or not, he'd rather just not admit it to himself.

If he didn't admit it to himself that meant none of those things could ever happen and he was definitely not vulnerable to Stephanie McMahon. Most assuredly not.

Shawn broke up this train of thought when he returned yet again. He had taken off about fifteen minutes after dropping off their drinks, which was the second suspicious thing of the night.

"Hey guys, I've got some private dancers lined up for us" Shawn motioned his head in the direction of the room.

Sean and Scott hopped up like giddy school boys while Kevin sighed before slowly getting up, clearly enjoying just sitting and watching a show rather than having it up close and personal.

Mark obliged as well, making his way through the beaded curtain to the back room.

This room was significantly quieter than the main one. There was still music, but it was mostly just the music from the main room seeping into this one. There were also private rooms set up with curtains and Mark still wasn't turned on by the idea of a private dance.

"Okay boys, have at it!" Shawn declared.

Sean and Scott rushed to into separate rooms on the right side and Kevin followed suit, but at his usual giant pace. He could already hear Sean attempting some sort of dirty talk to the girl in his room and realized that the music was low in here so that girls could call out if they needed anything. Incidentally, it also meant you could hear everything the guy beside you was saying.

Mark opted for the first room on the left, hoping to get away from the other guys. Shawn followed Mark and went into the second room on the left, winking before disappearing through the curtain.

When Mark moved the curtain aside to enter, he saw the girl who was waiting for him. Of course. It was the girl with the long brown hair, nothing to cover her nipples this time. Not that Mark would have noticed anyway. He was looking at her big brown eyes and thinking about Stephanie's.

* * *

Mark had been sat in that room with this girl dancing for nearly ten minutes. Ten minutes and he hadn't touched her, he hadn't said anything to her, he just sat there with her dancing on him. He wasn't really focused on the dancing, he was just thinking about Stephanie. He even imagined her attempting to dance in a strip club and almost laughed when he thought about her yelling at any guy who said something rude to her. She wouldn't have a job for very long.

He missed his little spitfire. Nobody else talked back to him the way she did. Even his buddies would make small jokes, but they weren't the same. She had no fear of him and would often mock the things he said when she didn't like them. He would usually let her go until she stopped and realized how she was acting. She would mumble an apology and get closer to him in an attempt to schmooze her way back into good favor. It always worked.

"Sir?"

It was then that Mark realized the dancer had stopped and she was straddling his lap but not moving.

"Yeah?"

"Are you not liking this?" she asked.

Mark didn't want to make the girl feel bad but having to look at this girl just made him wish he could hold Stephanie in his arms "No, no. Just...lost in thought."

"About what?" she resumed movement, but they were tinier movements than before.

"Just 'bout a girl."

"Your wife?"

"No, no. Uh, just a girl." Mark couldn't believe what he was saying but he had spent all night thinking about Stephanie without being able to say anything about it "You remind me of her, actually."

She stopped moving again "I do? How so?"

"Your hair and your eyes."

"Oh."

The girl started moving again but after a moment Mark grabbed her hips to stop her "How old are you?"

He had no idea where he was going with this. He just wanted her to stop. All he could think about was wanting her to be Stephanie and in the past he would've been able to pretend that she was Stephanie, but not anymore. This girl certainly wasn't about to bluntly make demands of him and perhaps a younger Mark would've loved a passive girl, but not anymore. He knew this girl didn't feel like Stephanie because when he was with Stephanie he felt complete.

"I'm twenty-two." she replied, not at all annoyed that she got to stop grinding against him. Mark figured she must have to do this to plenty of guys a night and a break wouldn't be so bad.

"Do ya go to school?"

"I'm in college, yeah."

Mark sighed "My girl is in college."

"Yeah? Where at?"

"Boston University."

"Oh wow! That's a great school."

"Yeah it is, I'm so proud of her. She's so smart and driven and-" Mark stopped himself, finally realizing how strange this situation was: he was talking to a girl who was supposed to be giving him a lap dance about Stephanie and how proud he is of her. Next thing he knew he would be telling this girl how much he loved Stephanie. He almost had a heart attack upon realizing what he had just thought.

He nudged the girl off him and pulled out his wallet "Thank ya for the dance. I hope ya do well in school."

He handed her a hundred dollar bill and left the room. This whole night things had felt off and he was finally beginning to see why: because he was already vulnerable to Stephanie McMahon. He already would do anything for her. Just because he didn't want to admit to the L word, didn't mean he wasn't already feeling it.

He needed a drink and made his way to the bar. Not too far behind him was none other than Shawn Michaels, who had heard everything he said to the dancer back in the private rooms. Not only that, but the ring leader of The Kliq had also put two and two together: that Stephanie McMahon was the girl.

All the clues were there, right in front of Shawn's face, he just thought so highly of Mark that he assumed the man would never do anything like that. Apparently he was wrong and he was glad.

He followed Mark to the bar in hopes of toying with the big man before telling Vince what he prized employee and daughter have been up to.

* * *

"Hey man" Shawn said as he sat beside Mark at the bar "Didn't like the girl?"

"No, it's not that. Just wanted a drink." Mark replied as the bartender handed him a small glass of Jack Daniels.

"Oh, okay." Shawn ordered a drink then kept on pestering Mark "So, ya got a girlfriend big man?"

This was the next suspicious thing of the night, but Mark didn't catch it because he was too on edge about Stephanie and his recent revelation.

He smirked and took a sip of his drink "Somethin' like that."

"A fuck buddy?"

"Oh no. Not a fuck buddy." Mark made sure that was clear "She's so much more than that."

"Why haven't ya brought her around?" Shawn asked.

Mark wanted to laugh. If only Shawn knew that she had been around for years. The only problem, Shawn now did know.

"We try to keep things on the down low" Mark replied "Seeing how things play out."

"How things play out? So, you're not that serious about this girl?"

"What's with the twenty questions? I am serious about this girl, it's just complicated. Okay? We'll leave it at that."

Shawn loved that he was getting under Mark's skin "Do ya love her then?"

"It's complicated." Mark snapped.

"Do ya miss her when you're on the road?"

"Yep."

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Well, I do."

"It still doesn't sound like it."

Mark had had it with Shawn and his berating. Shawn knew that Mark was at his breaking point, the man didn't like being pestered and that was Shawn's expertise. Shawn expected him to snap and punch him or something, but much to Shawn's surprise, that didn't happen.

"Oh, it doesn't sound like it? To you, who fucks random chicks every other night? You wouldn't understand, Shawn."

"I bet I would understand." Shawn insisted, mildly offended that Mark didn't think he'd be able to.

This whole game that Shawn had came up with to toy with Mark was taking a turn and Shawn didn't like where it was going. All he wanted was to fuck with the man, tell Vince, and get Mark's spot. That was all. He didn't plan on getting into an argument that Shawn was beginning to become invested in.

"No, you wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I would!" Shawn snapped.

Mark was over the edge now. He hated being pestered and he wasn't exactly Shawn's biggest fan, despite feeling bad for the guy.

"You think you could understand what it's like to spend hours every night on the phone just to spend the next few hours missing that person? You think you know what it's like to have your best friend, your other god damn half not be there? There's only so much a fucking phone call can do when you just want to have them next to you at night!" Mark slammed his drink down on the bar counter "You have no idea, Shawn. You could never understand what it's like to love someone so intensely that you've got an uncertain future with. God's cruel, Shawn. He'll give ya your soulmate in the form of a young spoiled spitfire, and you'll never expect it, until one day you realize that you love them and you'd give your life for their happiness. So no, you couldn't understand."

Mark got up and left before Shawn could say anything else. For once, Shawn didn't think he'd be able to say anything else.

Shawn had planned to toy with Mark then tell Vince, but that was when he thought Mark was just fucking around with Stephanie. That was before that speech. _You'd give your life for their happiness._

Shawn wouldn't consider himself a sentimental guy, but when he heard Scott and Kevin talking about their wives it never even came close to how clear Mark made it that he felt about Stephanie. Scott's marriage was going down the drain and he was cheating on her every chance he got. Meanwhile Kevin was constantly lying to his wife and viewed her as the nagging wife.

It wasn't that Shawn didn't like his friends, he loved all his close buddies. But, he also saw that they were complete assholes, much like himself. He knew he was one of the biggest dicks people would ever meet but it wasn't as if he was off getting married and having kids, pretending he wasn't a jerk.

"Hey, Shawn!"

Shawn turned and saw Scott walking towards him "Hey man."

"Sean and I got these chicks to come to our room after they get off work tonight" Scott sounded so pleased with himself.

"Awesome man." Shawn paused and just as Scott was about to walk away he stopped him "Hey, Scott? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure man, what's up?"

"When you married Dana, did considered her your best friend?"

"Nah man, you guys are my best friends. Dana's just my wife."

"I was just wonderin'."

With that Scott took off to find Sean and wait around for the girls, meanwhile his wife would be none the wiser. He certainly doubted that Scott would consider Dana his soulmate.

Shawn decided he wouldn't tell Vince. If only because someday he could be the one to rub it in Vince's face that he saved his daughter from ending up with some asshole like Scott Hall or some degenerate like Sean Waltman, neither of which would give their lives for Stephanie's happiness.

But he knew someone who would.


	10. Meet The Parents

**Note:** Here's a chapter of fluffy goodness before next chapter when I'm gonna time skip a little bit and some drama is really going to start. I felt like Stephanie being in college is perfect for keeping their relationship a secret, so I want to skip ahead a little to a point where drama can really begin to happen. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The remainder of 1994 seemed to pass by in a blur. Mark didn't tell Stephanie about the night at the strip club, not because he thought she'd be mad but because he thought it was irrelevant. The important thing was that he realized that he loved her, not that he had told her that either.

He had the perfect opportunity to tell her when she was home for Christmas break and one night they were in Mark's hotel room after a show, cuddled up to one another in bed watching an old movie that Stephanie had raved about for a solid twenty minutes when they were showering together. Mark even thought to himself 'this is the time to say it'. But, he didn't. They sat in peaceful silence watching the movie and Stephanie drifted off to sleep sometime before the ending, but after the climax.

He thought he would have another perfect opportunity during that break but he was wrong. Every night they met up he was tired but wanting her. She would come over, have sex, try to finish a movie, but inevitably fall asleep halfway through.

And just as quickly as Stephanie's break had came, it ended. Before they knew it, they were having a repeat of their previous goodbyes with Stephanie fighting back tears in Mark's hotel room early in the morning. Mark didn't think that saying goodbye was a good time to say that he loved her.

So she was off again to college and Mark was on the road, traveling more in 1995 as WWE branched out and captured an even larger audience. He stayed with Will occasionally when they were farther from the Northeast and Will always asked about Stephanie. Mark had taken to tormenting his friend by revealing way too much information to him in some sort of quasi effort to get him to stop asking, but it only seemed to momentarily deter Will until their next venture.

Shawn still hadn't said anything to anyone nor did he plan to, not that Mark even knew. He treated Shawn the same as before, completely oblivious to the huge secret the Heartbreak Kid held.

Before Mark even knew it, March had flown by and it was the beginning of April. Amidst his minor crisis over turning thirty and mulling over what this meant for him, Stephanie had thrown an offer at him that made him really consider where their relationship is going.

 _"So, I'm not coming home for Easter break in a couple weeks"_ she stated bluntly then added on _"At least...that's what my dad thinks."_

"What do ya mean?"

 _"Well, so, uh..."_ she stumbled over her words _"I was thinking that instead of coming home for Easter break that maybe I could come with you to Texas for Easter and maybe, uh...meet your parents?"_

"Meet my folks?"

 _"Yeah."_

Mark knew he loved Stephanie and that she was like his other half, this wasn't something he questioned anymore. But, he had never really stopped to think about their relationship. It was such a strange relationship with a number of restrictions that most relationships didn't have so he was used to taking things day by day. He hadn't really considered what would happen in the long term. He never thought of what would happen if they were together for ten years, then what? He knew introducing her to his family would be a big step, a step in the direction of a solid long term relationship that had a real future, something Mark always hoped for with Stephanie but was mildly uncertain about.

"Yeah, I'd like if ya met my folks. We'll sort out all the details in the next few days."

Stephanie squealed over the phone and Mark couldn't help but smile, he hoped this was a step towards a future together. He didn't want their lives to only be filled with memories of sex in hotel rooms, however nice that sex was.

* * *

Soon enough it was April 14th and both Mark and Stephanie were on flights heading to Houston, Texas. Separate flights, of course. They were planning to meet up at the airport and from their, find Mark's parents who had volunteered to pick them up. Mark's mom had squealed almost as loudly as Stephanie over the phone when Mark told her that he was bringing a girl home.

When Mark spotted Stephanie in the airport he couldn't wipe the smile off his face and he wanted desperately to hold her hand or wrap his arm around her, but he couldn't really do that in public. Meeting up in public was risky enough as is.

"Oh my gosh, are you the Undertaker?" Stephanie sarcastically fawned over him as she got close.

"The one and only ma'am" Mark played along.

"I watch you on TV and I just think you're the best! Can you show me some moves?" she kept up her fake fan-girl impression.

Mark lowered his voice as they walked "I'll show ya some moves later tonight, princess."

Stephanie shot him a devious look and Mark smirked back. Everything felt right. Now he just hoped that his parents didn't note the eleven year age gap or catch onto the fact that Stephanie is his boss's daughter.

As soon as they rounded the corner, Mark spotted his parents instantly. His mom's face lit up and she came rushing over the give Mark a hug before turning to Stephanie.

"Oh look how beautiful you are! So nice to finally meet you!" his mom embraced Stephanie in perhaps an even bigger hug than the one Mark had received.

His dad was following close behind and gave his youngest son a quick hug before introducing himself to Stephanie and giving her a hug as well.

"Hi, Frank Calaway. Great to meet ya."

"Oh goodness! I didn't even introduce myself!" his mom stuck out her hand "Cathy Calaway! Feel free to call me Cat if you'd like!"

"It's great to meet you both. Thank you so much for having me for Easter" Stephanie thanked them and smiled.

"Oh, we like her Mark" Cathy loudly whispered to Mark "Now let's get a move on! All your brothers are already at the house waitin'."

* * *

His mom wasn't kidding when she said that _all_ his brothers were there waiting. As soon as they walked in they received an onslaught of hugs for Stephanie and headlocks for Mark. Paul, David, and Tim were all sort of out of the loop but Mike already knew a great deal about Stephanie. Mark and Mike had always been close. Tim was the oldest at 45, then Paul at 43, then David at 39. Followed by a bit of a gap then Mike at 32 and of course, Mark, the youngest at 30. His three oldest brothers all were married with kids, who were all currently outside enjoying the weather, and Mike was married but without any kids.

Once things settled down, it was Paul who asked the question they were all wondering (with the exception of Mike, of course).

"So, how old are ya Stephanie?" he asked.

Mark knew this moment was coming and wanted to step in and say something to defend Stephanie's age before she even had a chance to speak, but being the person that she was, she spoke up.

"I'm eighteen, turning nineteen this year." she said clearly so there was no confusion "But Mark and I had known each other for years beforehand."

Mark caught the disgusted look on Tim's wife's face. He never really liked Melinda anyway.

"You'd known each others for years beforehand? Mark, wanna explain to me what you were doin' knowin' a young girl?" David inquired, and Mark had to admit it was a fair question.

"Well, the thing is, she's my boss's daughter." Mark informed them "So, I'd known her for years before any of this even started."

Mike and his wife, Bridget, smirked. They already knew all of this and found the reaction from Mark's other brothers quite amusing.

"Man." was all Paul managed to say.

It was clear that Tim didn't approve of this relationship in the least, nor did his wife. Paul was trying to process it all and David looked like he was about to join camp Tim and give their relationship a thumbs down. It was the first time Mark had experienced such a disapproval of their relationship and the whole ordeal made him quite uncomfortable, so he couldn't imagine how Stephanie was feeling.

His parents hadn't really reacted at all, which was truly surprising. Mark assumed it was because at this point they were just happy that Mark was bringing a girl home.

"Well, Mark's never brought a girl home before so you must mean a lot to him." Cathy intervened "Now why don't ya'll go get unpacked and supper will be all set in an hour."

* * *

"Your room is adorable."

"Adorable? Try manly."

"I'm sticking with adorable." Stephanie explored Mark's childhood bedroom, looking at all his sports paraphernalia and opening drawers to check out what was inside.

Mark set their suitcases down on his bed "I hope they didn't make ya feel weird."

"Who? Your brothers?"

"Yeah, Tim and David can be a little judgmental. Paul's just a doofus who always comes to love everyone."

"I thought they were fine. It makes sense that they thought it was weird. I mean, on paper it's weird but I think once they see us together more it won't be so weird."

Mark smiled "Ya know, this why I keep you around. Because when you're not actin' like a spoiled princess, you're pretty alright."

"I'm pretty alright?" Stephanie smirked as she wrapped her arms around him and bit at her lip "Just alright?"

"Maybe better than alright." Mark leaned down to kiss her and got to for about five seconds until Mike burst into his room.

"Hey!" Mike called out as he walked in, followed by Bridget.

Unlike Will, Mike had no shame in interrupting Mark. He didn't feel embarrassed or as if he was interrupting something, it was just a habit that he had grown accustomed to since they were kids: barging into Mark's room unannounced.

"Ya haven't learned to knock I see."

"Nah." Mike brushed off Mark's comment "So, ignore anythin' Tim says. His bitch wife said that she thinks it's wrong and insisted that Tim talk to ya about it."

"How're Paul and David takin' it?"

"Paul doesn't care anymore. He went outside to check on the kids and I think he may have forgotten all about it, who knows. And David is being a little pussy like always and just agreein' with whatever Tim thinks, so basically agreein' with whatever Melinda thinks."

"And mom and dad?"

"Oh mom totally loves Steph. I dunno about dad, he's so hard to read. Best I can tell, he doesn't care. You're finally bringin' a girl home so he doesn't give a damn. Now get your asses downstairs before the grits mom made get eaten up."

* * *

During dinner, Stephanie tried to take it all in. She tried to listen more than she spoke, which was quite the challenge for her because did she ever love to talk. But getting to know Mark's family was important to her, so she shut her mouth and only spoke when she was asked a question. She was asked a lot of questions, though. Mainly by Mark's mom who seemed to be constantly gushing over her and Stephanie wasn't sure if Cathy just liked her or if it was because she was the first girl Mark had brought home.

She waited until later that night, after Mark had given her a tour around the outside of the house and they were sitting on a bench in Cathy's garden, to ask him.

"Do you think your mom really likes me?"

"My mom seems to love you."

"Is it because I'm the first girl you've brought home or because of me?

"Not that ya need a bigger ego, but I think it's just because of you. She doesn't like Tim's wife, Melinda and she's indifferent about David's wife. She likes Paul's wife but I think that's only because her name is Kathy with a K. Other than sayin' her name, I've never heard her speak much to her. So, before you, she's only really had Bridget to talk to because us guys get talkin' about things that don't interest her." Mark paused "And who wouldn't like ya? You're smart, funny, gorgeous, easy to talk to..."

"Go on" Stephanie jokingly requested.

"A little spoiled brat" Mark continued, laughing.

They sat for awhile in silence as the sun set and stars began to fill the sky. Mark couldn't imagine his life without Stephanie. Without her sassy comments at every turn, without her undying determination, without her contagious larger than life grin when she was happy.

He rested his hand on top of hers, thankful that he brought her here.

It didn't take long for Stephanie to rest her head against his shoulder and drift off to sleep. After sitting like that in comfort for a few more minutes, Mark scooped her up off the bench and into his arms, taking her upstairs for bed.

He laid her as close to the wall as he could so he could fit in his twin sized bed alongside her. As he tried to shuffle in, turning to his side to try to get more comfortable, he heard a small giggle from Stephanie.

"And might I ask what's so funny?"

She turned over "You, a six foot ten man, trying to fit into this, a twin size bed. How can you not see the comedic value?"

He gave her a look before pulling her on top of him "There. Now I fit."

She gently pushed some loose strands of hair out of his face before bending down to softly press her lips against his. As she slowly deepened the kiss, Mark's hands traced their way up to her hips, holding her firmly in place.

She reached down to the hem of her shirt to pull it up slightly before Mark got impatient and pulled it all the way off her. She sat up, revealing a nearly see-through black bra. His hands moved up to her waist.

"Hey Mark!"

Yet again, his stupid older brother had to barge in, unannounced.

Stephanie scrambled off Mark, her cheeks burning red after being walked in on by Mark's brother. Mark could've sworn that he may have even been a little red in the cheeks himself, but mostly he was just annoyed.

"Uh. It's not that important. Goodnight!" Mike left just as quickly as he had entered.

It took a few moments but when Stephanie started laughing, Mark couldn't help but laugh too. Eventually, they got back on track and Stephanie insisted that Mark be on top citing not wanting someone else to walk in to see her riding him. He didn't need convincing for her one condition.

* * *

They both got up far too early the next morning and when the clock said 6:08a.m. Mark couldn't pretend to be tired anymore and Stephanie got up right along with him. They both crept down to the kitchen and Stephanie mumbled something about pancakes and coffee.

It was that simple.

Mark got out a big bowl for mixing the batter and a pan while Stephanie got to work on the coffee. They moved around one another in perfect cohesion, fitting together like a puzzle. They both anticipated what the other would need before they even knew it.

It was a sight to behold considering they hadn't ever cooked together before. But just watching them one would assume they had been together for years, making their breakfasts together everyday.

They were focused as well, only aware of their task at hand and each other. They didn't even notice Cathy standing in the doorway watching them.

* * *

Later that day, Cathy asked Stephanie to help her with her gardening and wanting to gain the approval of Mark's mom, Stephanie agreed.

As Cathy sat back, wiping sweat from her forehead she looked at Stephanie who was working away at evenly distributing the mulch around the garden.

"You're a good little gardener. Have you ever done it before?" Cathy inquired.

"No, never before" Stephanie shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, you should consider takin' it up" there was a few moments of silence before Cathy spoke up again "I saw you and Mark this mornin' in the kitchen."

Stephanie almost didn't know how to respond to that, she wasn't sure where Cathy was going with this "Yeah, we got up pretty early so we decided to make pancakes and coffee."

"No, I mean I _saw_ you and Mark" Cathy stood up and walked over to Stephanie "Frank and I have been married for forty seven years and I banned him from bein' in my kitchen while I make anythin' forty six and a half years ago."

Stephanie giggled "And why's that?"

"Because he gets in my way. He just can't read me and has no clue what I need or what I'm lookin' for. Not only that, but he stands in the worst spots and I wish I could count the amount of times I ran into that man" she shook her head recollecting all the times she had "I love Frank but he and I are two very different people who happen to work because we love each other so much."

"I can tell that you two love each other."

"Not like I can tell you and Mark love each other, though." Cathy reached down and picked up a small gardening trough "It's rare to find your soulmate in life and I couldn't be happier that my youngest son found his."

Stephanie had toyed with the idea of Mark being her soulmate in her mind countless nights in the past. She had chalked it up to her being captivated by the idea of a fairytale romance and told herself that fairytales aren't real. But now, she was considering that maybe the parameters of their relationship wasn't a fairytale so that their love could be.

* * *

Mike was right when he told Mark that Tim was going to talk to him. Sure enough was Stephanie was outside with his mom gardening, Tim asked to speak to Mark for a moment, in private.

They sat in the den, Tim acting formal as ever. Mark always wondered how it was possible for Tim to end up as a snooty banker with the upbringing he had.

"Mark, I'm going to put this bluntly" Tim sighed "You need to break up with Stephanie. It's not a normal relationship, she's a teenager and you're thirty."

Mark chuckled. He thought it was funny that Tim didn't think that Mark had even considered their age difference to be an issue. As if Mark hadn't spent over a year mulling over his feelings for Stephanie, living in denial for so long. As if he didn't consider any repercussions of this relationship. As if this was some fling that they could both just brush off.

"I don't find this funny. Honestly, this whole relationship is an embarrassment to our family!"

"I do. Timmy, I don't give a shit what you think. When have I ever?" Mark rolled his eyes and got up to leave.

"God damnit, Mark! Get your head out of your ass and get back to reality, when this little fling ends, which it inevitably will, it's not gonna blow up in her face, it's gonna blow up in yours!"

Mark gritted his teeth but didn't feel that Tim's outburst even deserved a response.

As if he didn't realize that if this went south, they'd both be fucked.

* * *

Mark spent the remainder of the night and part of the next morning in a snappy mood. While Stephanie was on cloud nine and trying to get even closer to Mark, he just wanted space. He loved Stephanie so much and that wasn't the problem, he just needed to breath and realize that from the moment he kissed her he was fucked, this wasn't new information.

He continued to be particularly grumpy and ornery through Easter morning and after breakfast as the kids were starting their Easter egg hunt, and Stephanie was dragged along by David's daughter Vanessa who had taken a liking to her, Cathy had pulled Mark aside.

"What's got ya in a funk?" she asked.

"Nothin', just want some space to work it out and I'll be fine. Nothin' else can be done." he replied, avoiding eye contact.

"Mark William Calaway. Ya best tell me what's wrong."

"Tim had a little talk with me yesterday, to tell me to not date Stephanie. It was all stuff I'd already thought about but sometimes it just gets to me." Mark couldn't help but blab to his mom "When I'm with Stephanie I don't think about any of the bad things that could come of this because I can't imagine that anythin' bad could come outta what we have. But then sometimes I'm reminded that there's a reason we keep our relationship a secret."

"Well, ya gotta make it work."

Mark chuckled "Is that your definitive answer?"

"Yep." Cathy smirked "Ya can't throw away your soulmate, Mark. God only gave ya one so no matter what happens, ya have to fight for her."

* * *

Later that night Mark told Stephanie why he was being such an ass and Stephanie rolled her eyes, shoved his shoulder, and kissed him. She hated when he was an standoffish ass, but appreciated that he finally owned up to it, even though he assured her that she shouldn't expect that to happen too often.

They had slow but passionate sex immediately following, Stephanie was at the point of whimpering and trembling when she finally came and Mark followed shortly after.

Mark held her especially close that evening, noting every inch of her body that curved against him. When he heard her breathing slow down and steady he tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I love you." he whispered, hoping she was completely asleep so that she didn't hear it.

She wasn't. And she did.

* * *

Saying goodbyes on Easter Monday was more difficult that Mark thought. He felt an even greater rift between himself and Tim but on the other hand, he felt even closer to his mom.

They said their goodbyes to everyone and hugs went all around, even Melinda hugged Stephanie goodbye.

"Now, ya'll have a safe flight home and please feel free to call anytime" Cathy looked at Stephanie "Either of ya."

Mark and Stephanie embraced Cathy one last time before heading out to the taxi that was waiting for them.

The drive to the airport felt too short and they readied to say goodbye as Stephanie would board the flight for Boston and Mark would board the flight for New York.

"I hate this part." Stephanie pouted.

"We won't have to do this forever."

"Three more years we're gonna have to do this, Mark."

"Do ya know how fast three years is gonna go by?"

"Painfully slowly?"

"No" Mark shook his head as she laughed "It's gonna fly. Before ya know it you're gonna have a degree and be graduated and..."

He didn't know what to say because he hadn't really considered what would happen after Stephanie graduated from college. He was so busy thinking of the now that he didn't think about what happens when Stephanie gets a job and is expected to have a serious boyfriend, and move in, and get married, and have kids? Then what? Were they supposed to just reveal that surprise, they've been keeping this secret for years and what? Expect everything to be okay?

"And we'll be together. And we'll be fine." she calmed his thoughts, at least momentarily.

The call for her flight to board came over the intercom and her eyes instantly filled with tears. Mark first wondered if this would get easier back in September, but now it was April and it certainly wasn't getting any easier.

"I'll call you tonight" Mark assured her.

"Okay, I'll be looking forward to it" Stephanie wiped her eyes and shot him a quick smile "You know, I heard what you said last night."

"And?"

"And I heard it..."

"Well, I meant it."

Stephanie knew they could make it through the next three years. And the next. And the next. And the next.

Mark knew it too.


End file.
